Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited ACs, furniture, leather and footwear as a priority sector for the government’s Make in India push to generate jobs in which imports can be reduced.
To ensure an overall reduction in imports many suggestions and recommendations were put forward by Leather industry. Some of them were image makeover, building clusters, a less stringent FDL policy and boosting the infrastructure. China imports a total of 30-40 percent of leather goods to India, which mainly include leather shoes.
According to commerce ministry data, leather and leather products worth $1.01 billion were imported by India in FY20 half of it are estimated as finished products.
Aqeel Panaruna, chairman of the Council for Leather Exports (CLE), said that besides raw material, India imports components like shoe sole, insole and others that need to be manufactured locally. To decrease import dependency government should set up more leather parks and ease FDI policy, he added.
Recent developments like the definition of MSMEs, different payment and sub-intervention have given some comfort.
Increasing duty alone will not would not reduce imports. The focus should be on developing an ecosystem like that of China Price and variety are major challenges, said Rafeeque M Ahmed, president of the All India Hides and Skins Tanners and Merchants Association.
Reference:
Narasimhan. (2020, June 4). Leather industry seeks policy, infra makeover to reduce imports from China. Retrieved from https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/leather-industry-seeks-policy-infra-makeover-to-reduce-imports-from-china-120060400536_1.html#:~:text=Leather industry seeks policy, infra makeover to reduce imports from China,-T E Narasimhan | Chennai&text=PM Modi has recently named,which imports could be reduced.&text=According to commerce ministry data,worth $1.01 billion in FY20.
