Being a head of Council for Leather Exports <g data-gr-id="33">(CLE) ,</g> the apex trade promotion organisation of strong and rapidly growing Indian leather and leather products industry, what are core objectives of the <g data-gr-id="34">council ?</g>
Since Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is the only body which is accountable for the overall development of Indian leather sector, we are committed to achieve higher export growth to enhance India’s share in global leather trade. The core objective of this apex body is to develop and strengthen the leather industry both industrial development as well as export growth. We have set a goal for ourselves to increase the export and domestic sales turnover <g data-gr-id="46">upto</g> 27 billion <g data-gr-id="39">dollar</g> in the next five years, which is over 12 million dollar presently.
The council has planned to showcase the available opportunities in India to foreign investors and invite them to come and set up their manufacturing units here as a team of CLE would be visiting countries like Taiwan, China, Brazil, US, Germany and European Union soon. Apart from exporting, the investors would also get the opportunity to explore their products in Indian markets, which is of 6 billion <g data-gr-id="37">dollar</g> presently.
Germany is <g data-gr-id="31">largest</g> importer of Indian leather goods and China has also started importing the finished leather products. How do you see this development?
It’s true that Germany is our best importer, but it is also outsourcing the leather products from other countries too. Portugal, Romania, China and India are the major supplying nations for Germany. We are focusing on increasing the export volume to Germany, but in case of China, the export is at <g data-gr-id="50">initial</g> stage. We see it as a great opportunity as China itself is a huge market. China will come to India itself as India is the only country that has the potential to meet their demands. If India initiates to adjust the export tariff from 14 per cent to 6 per cent it will open a floodgate of trade opportunities with China.
What about new investors coming to India under Make in India initiative?
The Make in India drive has become a centre of attraction for investors across the globe. Investors from several countries, including China, Germany, America, Taiwan, etc, have shown <g data-gr-id="44">keen</g> interest in setting up their manufacturing units in the country. Countries like America, China are working on a strategy to bring investors to India with the agreement of buying their goods manufactured under the Make in India drive. The new units under Make in India drive would come up in the existing clusters and if needed new units would also be established in nearby urban areas such as areas between Unnao and Lucknow, Kanpur and Agra, etc.
We have also set a target to train at least 2 lakh workers in the current financial year under the skill development campaign of the Modi government. In the previous year, we had trained 38,000 workers.