Indian leather industry - current scenario and future scope

Abstract

Leather is a unique natural material. It has been associated with human civilization since ages and continues to bear the rough and tough of the nature to provide comfort for the human race. In the current context, leather products serve not only as essential commodities, but also serve as fashion and glamour accessories. The importance of Indian leather sector stems from two angles - employment generation and earnings of foreign exchange. There has been increasing emphasis on its planned development, aimed at optimum utilization of available raw material for maximizing the returns particularly from exports. India is the third largest producer of Leather and allied products after China and Italy. The Exports from Leather is the 8th largest contributor in the exports. But in spite of natural advantages (largest livestock in the world) our country has, we have not been able to harness the full potential and lag behind at 5th in leather exports worldwide. We have tried to provide an insight into the leather industry through the analysis of various facets. They comprise livestock (strength of base), hides and skins (availability of basic raw materials), tanning industry (character and distribution), leather products industries (value addition through forward linkages), government policies (industrial/trade policies for direction), export promotion (foreign exchange earnings and employment generation) and global trends (to assess the export prospects of India). (This is an excerpt taken from the views of D Chandramouli, Scientist, Economics Division, CLRI, Chennai)