Leather Industry - A Prominent Contributor in State's Economy

Leather Industry traditionally occupies a place of prominence in the State's economy, in view of its massive potential for employment, growth and exports. The state has one of the largest livestock populations in the country, which provides a strong raw material base required for the industry. Leather & Leather goods industry has performed exceptionally well as compared to all India figures and of other regions.

The number of leather and leather products industries in the state are to the tune of 11,500 of which Kanpur and Agra are the two famous production centres. The footwear sector is a very significant segment of the leather industry in Uttar Pradesh.

Leather Industries in UP have got maximum account of SMEs & MSMEs employing nearly 3,00,000 workers mostly belonging to the weaker section of the society and coming from rural areas. 

U.P. is now the second largest producer of footwear after Tamil Nadu. Agra is the biggest centre for shoe manufacturing in the country. Kanpur is the main producer of saddlery products. It is a prominent centre for leather processing. Kanpur tanneries specialize in processing of raw hides into heavy leather (sole, harness and industrial leather).  The prominent leather products manufactured in Kanpur include footwear components (including shoes and sandals), leather garments, industrial gloves, saddlery, belts and bags. The prominent leather shoe brands of Kanpur and Agra are Red Tape, Red Chief, Allen Cooper, Mardigrass, Zara, Topshop, Metro,  and Kickers. More than two lakh people are either directly or indirectly involved in the manufacturing of leather products in the city.

Noida has also emerged as a major centre especially for leather footwear and leather garments. The State Footwear Industry is provided with institutional infrastructure support through premier institution of Footwear Design & Development Institute, Noida in the areas of technological and Human Resource Development. The main production centres for leather and leather products are Kanpur, Unnao, Agra and Noida.

The state has already developed a Leather Technological Park at Banther, Kanpur for setting up tanneries and leather goods units. The Central Government also proposes to establish one mega leather cluster near Kanpur.

The availability of abundant raw material, large market size and the opportunity to cater to domestic/ global markets makes Uttar Pradesh an attractive destination for investment in the sector.

Export Figures

Sl.No.	Year	Export value (Rs. in crores)
1.	2006-07	3205.68
2.	2007-08	4374.33
3.	2008-09	4561.61
4.	2009-10	4619.22
5.	2010-11	5300.00

  Source: Council of Leather Export Kanpur

Export from U.P. is around 28% of All India Export of Leather and Leather Products. The product wise export of leather and leather goods shown as per following chart:

Export Award Winners from U.P. during 2008-09 and 2009-10

(Source: Council of Leather Export, Kanpur)

Kanpur

1.      Super House Ltd.                                              2.      Mirza International Ltd.

3.      Model Tanners India Pvt. Ltd.                           4.      Everest Tannery Pvt. Ltd.

5.      Global Export                                                    6.      Lex International Pvt. Ltd.

7.      Eastern Exports                                                 8.      Aravind Footwear Pvt. Ltd.

9.      Kings International Ltd.                                     10.  Crescent Tanners Pvt. Ltd.

11.  Inyati Footwear Ltd.                                           12.  Grand International

13.  Samson's International                                         14.  Pacific Leather

15.  Allied Exims                                                        16.  Mariya Exports International

17.  Rahman Industries Ltd

Agra

1.      KAF Footwear Industries

2.      Sheetal Footwear Exports

Noida

1.      Unisol India Pvt. Ltd

2.      Tryshoera India Pvt. Ltd

Irshad Mirza, Padam Shree-2010

A.K. Pandey, Sr. Manager (Tech.)

Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow

The Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) under the aegis of ICAR is serving the nation by undertaking basic and strategic research to enhance productivity and develop value chain for major and minor subtropical fruits. Institute is also a national germplasm repository of subtropical fruit crops. The Institute has two experimental farms, one at Rehmankhera approximately 25 km away from the city and the other at Raebareli (R.B.) Road, in the city of Lucknow. To meet the challenges in emerging areas on subtropical fruits, Institute has modern nursery facilities, well-established orchards and fully equipped laboratories.  A hostel-cum-guest house is situated at R.B. Road Campus for accommodating farmers, trainees and experts. The institute is maintaining linkages with various national and international organizations in areas of research, development, education, training and germplasm exchange and the Institute has MoU with universities and other Institutes also. Institute has also been recognized by IGNOU, New Delhi as study centre for offering one year Diploma Course on value added products of fruits and vegetables and organic farming.

Institute has world’s richest field gene bank collection of mango (727). Besides, it has germplasm collection of   guava (114), papaya (32) and other minor and underutilized fruits. Ambika and Arunika are two mango hybrids released by the Institute possessing attractive peel colour, regular bearing with potential for domestic and export markets. Lalit and Shweta are selections of guava with good processing potential and high yields. Lalit variety is particularly famous for pink pulp yielding pink coloured nectar. In bael superior selections B1  and B2 are important varieties with higher yields coupled with  low seed and fibre content. Recently CISH has identified a seedless Jamun selection which has immense table and processing value.

Technologies developed

Institute has demonstrated application of rejuvenation technology for reviving the production for senile and old mango orchards. This technology has made impressive inroads amongst the orchardist of Bihar, Jharkhand and has also been identified by National Horticulture Mission for its promotion amongst orchardists.  Yield enhancement in range of 70 to 90 per cent over the un-pruned trees is recorded after second year of rejuvenation in case of senile orchards of guava and aonla. The institute has developed the concept of meadow orcharding in guava wherein 5000 plants ha^-1 (1.0m x 2.0m) are accommodated and managed judiciously with regular topping and hedging yielding massive productivity. Year round production of guava plants is feasible now due to wedge grafting technique perfected at CISH. Round the year production of elite planting material of mandate crops is feasible with modern nursery facilities at CISH. Integrated pest management of mealy bug and hoppers on mango for pest control and Methyl eugenol based ecofriendly management of fruit fly in mango and guava orchards is being promoted. Forecasting model for the prediction of powdery mildew and hot water treatment for control of post harvest diseases of mango are plant protection technologies offered to orchardists. Protocol for post harvest management of mango along with uniform ripening of mango with ethrel is being routinely followed, which has immediate financial benefits for the growers and traders. Composting of mango peel and utilization of mango peel for pectinase production are new endevours. Amylase production from mango kernel and production of baker’s yeast from mango stone has immense potential.

Products developed

Institute has developed technology for many fruit based products such as beverages from blends of mango-pineapple (1:1), mango-pear (any ratio) and mango-papaya (2:1), raw mango squash (Panna concentrate).Oil less pickle of mango, Sweet papaya chutney, good quality vinegar from mango peel, guava slices from cv. Lalit, Sweetened and brined (salted) aonla segments, aonla and mango dietary fibre enriched biscuits, fermented beverages viz. aonla cider, guava cider, raw mango cider, mahua wine, bael wine, mango wine and mango peel vinegar.

Tools and machineries developed

Many tools and machinery has been developed by the institute such as a prototype of bund former, a simple low cost mango harvester, web removing device (hand fork type), aonla de-stoning machine, cabinet type solar de-hydrator, sprayer, automatic packaging unit, CFB boxes of 2 kg capacity for packaging of mango and guava fruits.

Services offered

Institute is offering various services like scientific literature on different technologies of subtropical fruits.

Soil and leaf analysis, on the spot inspection and advisory service for the problems of subtropical fruit production, front line demonstration of Institute technologies, consultancy services to govt. and non-govt. organizations, evaluation of chemicals/ fungicides / insecticides etc, production and sale of healthy and genuine planting materials of different varieties of mango, guava, aonla and bael, production and sale of fruit products. Institute organizes gosthies, demonstrations, exhibitions, scientists-farmers interaction, radio and TV talks etc. for the benefit of end users.

H. Ravishankar, Director

Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture