India's leather industry body seeks new national policy to drive $47bn export ambition

India’s apex leather trade body has called on the government to draft a unified national policy for the leather and footwear industry, arguing that a cohesive strategy is essential to unlock massive investment and create millions of new jobs.

In a formal submission to Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam, the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) stated that while various central and state-level support measures are currently in place, the industry lacks a "holistic" framework to drive global competitiveness.

The proposed policy aims to overhaul the entire value chain, moving beyond simple manufacturing to include incentives for worker training, the adoption of sustainable technologies, and the development of innovative products. "This policy should cover the entire supply chain of the sector, starting from raw materials to finished products, including processing, product development, marketing, supply chain management, and backward integration," the Council stated in its letter.

CLE Executive Director R. Selvam emphasized that the labor-intensive nature of the industry makes a national policy a socio-economic necessity. The sector currently employs approximately 4.4 million people, more than 85% of whom are women.

"The policy would help the industry in boosting exports and creating a huge number of jobs," Selvam told PTI.

Key Policy Recommendations

The CLE’s proposal includes several specific structural and financial requests aimed at modernizing the sector. The council has urged the government to implement the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme across the full footwear and leather supply chain, specifically including the machinery manufacturing segment. The CLE’s recommendations include fine-tuning of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policies to increase productivity through more flexible labor laws and reducing tax burdens for companies selling goods into the domestic Indian market. The suggestion also includes a blueprint to transform existing footwear clusters into smart clusters with improved logistics management and plug-and-play factory models, ready-to-use sheds provided by the government to lower entry barriers for manufacturers.

The industry is currently on a steep growth trajectory, projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18-20% over the next six years. Industry estimates suggest total turnover could surge from $16.7 billion in 2023-24 to $47 billion by 2030. To accelerate this, CLE Chairman R.K. Jalan has requested a policy framework that targets the employment of at least two million additional youth within the next seven years. Jalan further proposed a high-level summit between global CEOs of major international footwear brands and state-level industry secretaries. Such a meeting, he argued, would be instrumental in attracting large-scale foreign investment as global brands seek reliable, large-scale manufacturing alternatives.

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