CHENNAI, February 6: A technology/modernisation fund set up exclusively for leather industrialists is on the anvil, according to chairman of the Council for Leather Exports M Rafeeq Ahmed.Speaking at the inaugural function of the India International Leather Fair and Intechmart here, he said the fund to be arranged by the council would fuel a planned government effort to make Indian products more competitive in the global market.India's global market share in leather is just 4.5 per cent compared to Italy (27%) and China (15%). But India could take on competition from the south-east Asian countries because the rupee is stronger by comparison and confidence level of foreigners on Indians bullish on this account. He hoped that the government would take pragmatic steps in pegging the rupee at realistic levels.
The council plans to increase this share to 10 per cent, for which it has taken measures to see that various duties such as countervailing duty and that on wattle extracts were reduced. Through itsefforts there were export duty concessions on 35 substitutes of banned azo dyes.
Besides, the council is also arranging to send tanners to Italy to learn better tanning procedures which would improve quality. Delegations would be sent to the Latin American countries, South Africa, etc, to build a better market image.
The council felt that there was tremendous opportunity in footwear components and a lot of investments could flow into this area. But the footwear industry had to be dereserved first to allow this. ``Even the Rs 3 crore limit which was enhanced for SSIs from Rs 60 lakh would be insufficient for the footwear component industry, which need a minimum start-up investment of Rs 5 crore,'' he said.
The council was also pressing for some Exim policy changes such as removal of ceiling on duty drawback on shoe uppers and enhancing of ceiling on leather gloves which was very low.
The Union minister for industry Murasoli Maran who inaugurated the fair expressed satisfaction at the idea that Germanywas featuring as a partner country in the fair.``I am sure that this Intechmart will provide an excellent forum for interaction with the global players for identifying the areas of possible technical collaboration and investment in the industry which would be of mutual benefit and result in some matchmaking,'' he said.
The minister said the government had given considerable encouragement to the leather industry and stood committed to its betterment. Whatever drawbacks or bottlenecks that remained would also be tackled, he said. The minister also presented awards and certificates for achievements in the industry.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
