Due to the fright of losing export orders to other countries, the leather industry expects the government to allow full fledge operations.
“We welcome the government decision to allow industries to operate with 50 % staff in most districts till May 31. However, April, May and June are the peak demand season and it is important to resume 100% production,’’ said Panaruna Aqeel, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, which is the apex trade promotion organisation of the Indian leather and leather products industry.
Due to the lockdown, the leather industry has seen order cancellations of $1 billion, out of which Tamil Nadu accounts for 37%.
It is important to make sure that industry does not lose out the export orders to the other countries, like Vietnam as it is opening up, said Mr. Aqeel. He pointed out that the leather and footwear industry is labour intensive and majority of the units are in the MSME segment.
The Indian leather sector accounts for over $5 billion in exports and it’s the second-largest producer of footwear and leather garments in the world, the second-largest exporter of leather garments and third-largest exporter of saddlery and harnesses.
Allowing industries to operate with 50% staff will help clear order backlog, said Apparel Export Promotion Council (APEC) Chairman A. Sakthivel.
However, he said inter-district movements of workers should be allowed in order to ensure smooth operations.
Reference:
Vijayakumar, S. (2020, May 19). Leather industry expects government to allow full operations in June, fears losing orders. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/leather-industry-expects-government-to-allow-full-operations-in-june-fears-losing-orders/article31621150.ece
