Leather

The Leather industry in India accounts for around 13% of the world’s leather production of hides/skins and handles a robust annual production of about 3 bn sq. ft. of leather. The country accounts for 9% of the world’s footwear production. The industry is known for its consistency in high export earnings and it is among the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country.

India has an abundance of raw materials with access to 20% of world’s cattle and buffalo and 11% of the world’s goat and sheep population.

The Leather industry is an employment intensive industry providing job to more than 4 mn people, mostly from the weaker sections of the society. Women employment is predominant in Leather products industry with about 30% share. The Leather industry in India has one of the youngest workforces with 55% of the workforce below 35 years of age.

The major markets for Indian Leather & Leather Products are USA with a share of 17.22%, Germany 11.98%, U.K 10.43%, Italy 6.33%, France 5.94%, Spain 5.01%, Netherlands 3.52%, U.A.E 3.35%, China 2.61%, Hong Kong 2.15%, Belgium 2.21% and Poland 2.11%.

The Leather industry has the tendency to generate 250 jobs for every $0.2 mn investment.

India as Footwear hub

• For every 1,000 pairs produced and sold in India per day, the sector can create 425 jobs spanning manufacturing, allied industries, and retail. 
• In terms of volume, India produced 1.8 billion units and is expected to product almost 3 billion units by 2024 growing at more than 10% annually 
• The footwear sector has the potential to grow up to US$ 80 billion, or eight times its present size, by 2030
• Indian Footwear Market was valued at $ 9.70 Billion in the year 2019 
• The per capita consumption of footwear is expected to be 2.94 pairs in 2024-25
• Non leather footwear market in India contributed approximately 59 per cent of the total footwear market in 2019 with a market size of $ 4.3 Bn which is expected to increase to $ 6 Bn in 2024.

For further details, please refer FDI Policy