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.)