Special praise for Tamil Nadu in economic survey
The government of India has highlighted the strong performance of the leather industry in a new economic survey, picking out the state of Tamil Nadu for particular praise.
It said Tamil Nadu contributes 38% of the country’s total production of footwear and leather products, and for 47% of its total leather exports, generating 200,000 Tamil Nadu jobs.
Tamil Nadu is also home to India’s Central Leather Research Institute, the Council for Leather Exports and the Footwear Design and Development Institute.
According to the survey, the industry in Tamil Nadu has played an important role in boosting employment in rural areas, where new industrial zones have become established. This has helped encourage footwear manufacturers to open new factories in these areas, boosting employment in rural communities, particularly among women.
An inward investment agency for Tamil Nadu, Guidance, is confident of being able to open more of these industrial zones in the near future. It has earmarked districts including Madurai and Sivaganga, which are almost 500 kilometres from the state capital, Chennai, for new developments and has said international footwear groups are expressing interest in opening factories there.
