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NT Bureau
Chennai, May 30:
 

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh speaking at a press conference in Chennai yesterday. Also seen is CLE vice-chairman Habib Hussain.

        Indian leather and handloom sectors have to become price competitive in the global markets taking into account the rupee appreciating against the dollar and reduce the transaction costs of their export consignments.

        Thus remarked Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh after chairing a review meeting for the Council of Leather Exports (CLE) in Chennai yesterday. Speaking to presspersons, he said the Commerce Ministry would apprise the Finance Minister on the concerns expressed by the leather industry on the appreciating rupee which had made Indian exports at a disadvantage against Chinese products. A footwear design centre would be set up in Chennai for training manpower as the leather industry was hit by skill shortage and the focus would be on investing in HR development at the new institute.

        In a far reaching initiative, three leather firms — A V Thomas, Tata International and R R Leather — have come forward to train and upgrade the skills of women SHGs (self-help groups) numbering 60 units with at least 15 members each in Kancheepuram for producing quality leather designs. 'These big firms will establish direct contact with SHGs at Kancheepuram to provide training and marketing skills for their leather designs and products and the project would commence within a month,' said Jairam Ramesh.

        For the year 2006-07, leather exports stood at $3.1 billion, a 15 per cent growth over previous year's earnings of $2.7 billion, and was poised to achieve the export target of $seven billion at the end of 2010-11. 'Nearly 90 per cent of the export target for 2010-11 was met at the end of 2006-07. Close to half-a-million new jobs will be created in the leather industry over the next four years and 2.2 million people will be employed in this sector by 2011,' he said. CLE has decided to extend full support to two new States — Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar — which have been identified for setting up leather clusters. At present, most of the leather exports were from Tamilnadu (footwear), West Bengal (leather goods) and Uttar Pradesh (saddlery and footwear) and at its deliberations, CLE has decided to set up value-added units in Kashmir and Bihar where there was plenty of raw hides, sheep and goat skins, chief inputs for leather industry. Minister called for a change in product mix of footwear exports as 90 per cent of it was men's wear and evinced hoped that in the next five years the focus would also be on children's and women's footwear too for which there was a huge market in the US and Europe.

        On the proposed leather SEZ (special economic zone) at Sriperumbudur, he said the Consortium of Shoe Manufacturers (CSM) wanted the SIPCOT which owned the land to develop the infrastructure at the SEZ. Whereas, SIPCOT the nodal agency was averse to invest in the leather SEZ which was approved under the name of CSM, he informed. However, the footwear component park at an adjoining site would become operational in five months, the Minister informed.

        HEZ at five towns in TN

        Union government would spend Rs 60 lakh each in five handloom clusters that would come up in Nagercoil, Virudhunagar, Kancheepuram, Thiruvannamalai and Nagapattinam. The State government would provide the land and other infrastructure for these Handloom Export Zones (HEZs), a first of its kind in the country. The first HEZ in Nagercoil to be inaugurated on October 2007 would produce terry towels; Virudhunagar and Thiruvannamalai HEZs would export place mats; Kancheepuram clusters would focus on value-added fabrics; and Nagapattinam HEZ would turn out silk furnishings.

        Ramesh said there was no latest data on handloom exports due to lack of a separate code for such products at the Customs department. 'Now a classification code will be used for generating data on handloom exports,' Minister informed. Total handloom exports stood at $540 million for 2002-03, the latest year for which the figures were available.

        Besides Karur in Tamilnadu, Panipat (Haryana) and Kannur (Kerala) that were export clusters, the proposed HEZs would provide a thrust on handloom exports and generate new jobs. 'There are 6.5 million families dependent on handloom sector and based on the performance of HEZs in Tamilnadu, they will be replicated in other States in the country,' Ramesh explained. Three design studios were mooted by the Handloom Export Promotion Council and both the Commerce and Textile Ministries would jointly set up these studios at Karur, Panipat and Kannur shortly.

        To a query, he said Cooptex, the marketing arm of TN Handloom Weavers Cooperative Societies, with a turnover of Rs 400 crore last year had shown how to solve the distress crisis faced by the handloom weavers through innovative means. 'Cooptex is a successful working model for weavers. Through good supply of raw materials at the handloom clusters, providing infrastructure and marketing tie-ups, the Cooptex had set an example for cooperatives in other States to follow,' the Minister said.