New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday called upon the leather and footwear industry to target at least $15 billion in exports over the next five to six years, or even earlier.

He also urged the industry to aim for a three-fold increase in its export performance by leveraging new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), diversifying markets and strengthening quality, design, branding, sustainability and scale.

Addressing the Council for Leather Exports National Export Excellence Awards for 2024-25 here, Goyal said the sector, currently exporting goods worth around $4-4.5 billion, has the potential to achieve tremendous transformation.

“If I was in your shoes, or in your leather shoes, if I may say so, I would not aspire for anything less than a 3x outcome in the next five to seven years,” he said, adding that the industry could target $15 billion in exports.

Enabling conditions had been created for the sector to achieve much bigger outcomes.

Goyal said that India today has high-quality products, highly experienced artisans, cobblers and workers, and industry leaders with the experience and ability to think big, dream big and achieve big.

The FTAs finalised by India were opening the doors to 38 developed countries and creating significant new opportunities for the leather and footwear sector.

He said the UK FTA would come into force on July 15. Referring to the EU FTA, he said he had held a very good conversation with his counterpart in the European Union in Brussels on Sunday, and that both sides were working together to complete the legal scrub within the next 15-20 days.

The minister said he would meet his EU counterpart on July 14-15 in Brussels. He said he would travel with a delegation of businesspersons to Brussels, Spain and Finland, as India had already begun marketing Indian products, goods and services and taking business delegations abroad to ensure that the country and its industry were future-ready.

Calling for diversification of export destinations, the Minister said 77 per cent of India’s leather exports currently go to only 15 countries.

He said the time had come to diversify across the world. Apart from the 38 developed countries whose markets had been opened up, India already has FTAs with the 10 ASEAN countries, Japan and Korea, taking the number to 50 countries, he said.

The minister said the potential extended far beyond footwear to bags, wallets, horse saddles, jackets, clothing and apparel. He said there were few industries with as wide a range of applications as leather, noting that leather was used in almost every aspect of life.

The Minister urged the sector to identify and use the best testing equipment. He said he had been urging industry in every engagement to identify the best equipment and laboratories near their clusters, whether those were BIS, NTA or other government laboratories or university facilities.

Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Goyal said, “We can become a global champion in leather and footwear exports by leveraging research and development and our traditional craftsmanship with modern technology.”

—IANS

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