Aim for $50 billion leather, footwear exports by 2030, one crore jobs, Piyush Goyal tells industry

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal Thursday has asked the leather and footwear industry to target $50 billion worth of exports by 2030 and also said that the sector has a potential to employ one crore people from 40 lakh now. At the India International Footwear Fair, he also asked industry to leverage India’s free trade pacts and build a strong Indian branding for their products.

“Today you are creating more than 40 lakh jobs. My sense is this should go up to one crore jobs, one crore people,” Goyal said.

He also said that the sector should keep a target of $50 billion exports by 2030.

He also asked industry to have a strong Indian branding, ensure that the designs are exceptional and leverage the various free trade agreements India has signed. The commerce and industry ministry has proposed a Rs 2,600 crore production-linked incentive scheme for leather and footwear.

India’s leather and its products are around $5 billion.

“My desire is that from the second largest manufacturer, we have to become largest. India is the ninth largest global exporter in the sector and that is not acceptable,” he said.The minister said that sufficient time has been given to the industry to comply with the quality control orders (QCO) and in fact some more easing has been extended to fashion footwear makers and legacy stocks.“Please cooperate with us on the QCO issue. You have the ability to capture the global markets,” Goyal said, adding that QCO doesn’t apply on exports and asked industry to “liberally capture world markets”.