Speaking at a seminar, ‘Footwear scenario, held at the recent 15th Delhi International Leather Fair (DILF), Adesh Gupta, CEO of footwear manufacturer Liberty Group and chairman of the Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI), said that Indian footwear exporters have been incurring huge losses over the past six months due to the dollar/rupee exchange rate.

He urged the government to freeze the exchange rate for at least three years for footwear exporters and requested assistance for the sector in order to create an infrastructure in the industry and develop human resources. He also asked for tax relief for the sector, stating that a mere eight to ten Indian footwear manufacturers currently account for 80% of the country's total footwear exports at present.

Meanwhile an official from the Central Leather Research and Institute told www.footwearbiz.com during the seminar that the first footwear component park in Chennai, which also houses a new design centre, will go into operation on June 15.