LEATHER EXPORTS LIKELY TO TOUCH US $ 2 BILLION MARK THIS YEAR
MARAN
URGES INDUSTRY TO INVEST ON BRAND PROMOTION TO CARVE LARGER SHARE
OF GLOBAL MARKET
DELHI
INTERNATIONAL LEATHER FAIR 2002 INAUGURATED
Exports
of leather and leather products from India are likely to reach
US $ 2 billion (US $ 2000 million) mark this year despite the
fact that the world economy has slowed down post-September 11.
This was indicated by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry,
Shri Murasoli Maran, while inaugurating the 10th Delhi
International Leather Fair 2002 at Pragati Maidan here today.
Exports on leather and leather products during 2001-2002 (April-January)
reach a level of US $ 1644.29 million ($ 1.6 billion) showing
a marginal growth of 0.55% over the corresponding period of 2000-2001.
Shri Maran urged the industry to maximise the available facilities
and improve its marketing strategies with a view to carving out
larger shares in the global market. "Our leaders of the
industry ought to be prepared to invest on brand promotion and
at the same time support the national effort of image building
through innovations in marketing, backed up by quality of production
and development of supply line suited to the specific demand situations",
he said. Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary; Shri
J. Vasudevan, Chairman & Managing Director of India Trade
Promotion Organisation (ITPO); Shri Irshad Mirza, Chairman, Council
for Leather Exports (CLE); Shri M Mohamed Hashim, former Chairman/CLE;
and Shri V.K. Shrivastava, Vice-Chairman, CLE were among those
present on the occasion. A number of foreign buyers including
German buyers and media persons are in India in connection with
the 4-day Delhi International Leather Fair, which is being jointly
organised by ITPO, CLE, Indian Leather Garments Association (ILGA)
and Footwear Development & Design Institute (FDDI). The
visit of the German group has been jointly organised by the Indo-German
Export Promotion Project (IGEP) and the DILF organisation committee.
The major buyers in the visiting German delegation include Mr.
Karlheinz dehmer of major shoe buying agency Nord-West Ring in
Germany and Mr. Robert Romtesch of Montes Gmbh, which is a sourcing
agency for leather garments.
The
Minister announced that Planning Commission had agreed for almost
100-fold increase in allocation for the leather sector during
the 10th Plan period compared to the 9th
plan allocation. For 2002-2003, an allocation of Rs.64 crore had
been approved, which was 5 times of the size of entire 9th
plan allocation, clearly reflecting the importance the government
attached to the leather sector. While listing out the series
of steps announced by the government in the New Exim Policy (2002-2007)
to reduce transaction costs, Shri Maran also urged the leather
industry to make full use of the Market Access Initiative Scheme
launched by the government by planning comprehensive projects
with a focussed approach to export marketing. He indicated
that further initiatives announced in this area include "setting
up of "Business Centre" in Indian missions abroad for visiting
Indian exporters/businessmen; ITPO portal to host a permanent
virtual exhibition of Indian export products; Focus: LAC (Latin
American Countries) was launched in November, 1997 in order to
accelerate our trade with LAC. This has been a great success.
To consolidate the gains of this programme, programme has been
extended upto March 2003; and Focus: Africa – there is a tremendous
potential for trade with the sub-Saharan African region. During
2000-2001, India’s total trade with sub-Saharan African region
was US $ 3.3 billion. Out of this, our exports accounted for US
$ 1.8 billion and our imports were US $ 1.5 billion. The first
phase of the Focus: Africa programme will include 7 countries
namely, Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania
and Ghana. The exporters exporting to these markets will be given
Export House status on export of Rs.5 crore".
The
success of Indian leather and leather products can also be gauged
from the countries like Germany, UK, USA, France and Italy are
amongst some of the largest buyers of Indian leather and leather
products, Shri Maran said. According to IGEP’s estimates, German
market alone needs 400 million pairs of shoes annually and India
sends in some thing like 10 million pairs, and that too of only
men’s shoes. The areas of huge demand for children and ladies
shoes is yet to be tapped by Indian exporters. The introduction
of single currency ‘Euro’, this year poses an imposing challenge
to Indian exporters, as majority of footwear production is in
the small scale sector. Their production standards, technology
and marketing skills require sustained upgradation, collaborative
arrangements and benchmarking for both domestic and export products,
IGEP says.
