Leather Products Make Up 80% Of Total Leather Exports

The share of value-added finished leather products in the total exports from India has shot up from a mere 20 per cent in 1970s to a staggering 80 per cent at present, said Union industry minister Murasoli Maran here yesterday.

The Indian leather industry was one of the major forex earners, next to textiles, gems & jewellery and engineering products, he said inaugurating a five-day India International Leather Fair (IILF), organised by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) here.

Over the last two decades, India has been slowly but steadily transforming its traditional leather industry. From a mere major exporter of hides and skins, the country has emerged as an exporter of value-added products.

 

Maran said fairs such as this projected the countrys export capabilities. It also facilitated technology upgradation and provided a forum for an exchange of ideas among the various sectors of the leather industry and introduce sophisticated leather machinery and equipment.

Over 300 companies, including 100 from 30 countries, are participating in the 13th annual IILF fair. India is partnering Germany in hosting the fair.

Maran said out of an annual export of leather products worth Rs 6,000 crore from the country, Germany alone imported 25 per cent of the value. Of the various states, Tamil Nadu accounted for one-third of the exports to Germany. He said institution such as IILF were here to stay as a true mirror reflecting growth and diversification of the leather industry in India as well as the latest technologies and manufacturing equipment available the world over.

An over-riding consideration of the Central government vis-a-vis the leather industry has been the adoption of specific policies that would provide incremental employment in the industry as most of the people connected with this industry belonged to the socially and economically vulnerable segments of the population, he said.

The German ambassador in India, Dr Dieckmann, said it was appropriate that his country was the partner country for the fair as Germany was the largest single market for Indian leather and leather products.

Chairman of the Chennai-based Centre for Leather Exports (CLE) Rafeeq Ahmed, said leather exports during 1995-96 totalled Rs 5,861 crore and in the following year there was a marginal drop because of various factors.

Exports during the nine months April to December last had crossed Rs 4,500 crore, he said. The countrys share in the global leather market now was only 4.5 per cent while countries like Italy and China accounted for 27 and 15 per cent, respectively, he added.