Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is the apex trade promotion organisation of the Indian leather industry. Of late, this industry body has taken up several initiatives to bolster exports of leather products from the country. The Dollar Business caught up with M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, CLE, to understand what the Council is doing to give up a leg up to the industry in overseas markets.
TDB: What, according to you, are the challenges that leather exporters face?
M. Rafeeque Ahmed (MRA): Generally, the biggest challenge for us and our members is penetrating the new and potential markets. Today, European Union and United States together account for about 68% of exports from the Indian leather industry. Of course, we have succeeded in our market diversification efforts to some extent with penetration in markets like Russia, Japan, Canada, Australia, Korea, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, etc. However, our share in these markets is still less than 2%. Council for Leather Exports (CLE) has been aggressively marketing in most of these potential markets and our efforts will definitely show results in the long run.
TDB: Are you happy with the export incentives currently provided to your sector? Also, how do you see the existing duty structure and tax deductions available to the sector?
MRA: The government, over the years, has put in a lot of efforts when it comes to sustainable development of the leather industry. In fact, the transformation of this industry from a mere exporter of raw hides and skins in the 1950s and 1960s to a leading value-added products exporter can be attributed to the continuous short-term and long-term programmes of the government.
This story is from the September 2016 edition of The Dollar Business.
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This story is from the September 2016 edition of The Dollar Business.
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