Chennai: “The leather industry is among the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country. In the period between April to November 2018, exports reached Rs 26,101.51 crore, registering growth of 5.77 per cent,” Council For Leather Exports (CLE), chairman, P R Aqeel Ahmed.
He said this during a road show event for the leather fair on Wednesday and added that Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will be inaugurating the 34th edition of India International Leather Fair (IILF) today at Chennai Trade Centre. The inaugural function will be presided over by Industries Minister M C Sampath as well as Environment Minister K C Karuppannan.
“The industry has the potential to achieve 9 to 10 per cent annual growth in exports in the next two years,” he said.
Speaking about the fair, Aqeel Ahmed said, “The three-day fair’s theme: Greening the leather, has been setup by CLE, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) as the fair will manifest the dexterity of the Indian expertise in eco-friendly designs and development of exquisite and high quality leather wears from finished leather.”
The fair will feature a wide range of products, machinery and equipment from over 450 companies from India and abroad, while more than 150 exhibitors will also take part from overseas, a release stated.
IILF will be followed by Leather Week and will be held from 1-3 February. Moer than 50 designers from 44 design companies / institutions from 10 countries will be presenting their wide range of design prototypes.