Synopsis

The Union Budget 2024-25 introduced key measures for the leather and footwear sector according to CLE Chairman Rajendra Kumar Jalan.

Union Budget 2024-25 will stimulate exports and employment generation in leather and footwear sector, according to Rajendra Kumar Jalan, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports (CLE).

Export duties on certain leathers were reduced, and additional inputs for leather and footwear exporters were included in the Duty Free Scheme. These changes aimed to boost exports and employment.

Jalan said, in a statement, “ Two major measures have been announced for the leather and footwear sector in the Union Budget, One is rationalization of export duties on leathers and the other is inclusion of more inputs including wet blue chrome tanned leather, wet white leather, crust leather and finished leather under the Duty Free Scheme for leather garments, leather products and footwear exporters.”

Council for Leather Exports has been requesting for allowing duty free imports of critical raw materials and inputs including wet blue, crust and finished leathers, as these facilitate export of value added products from the country."We are thankful to the Government for including these leathers and other critical inputs under the Duty Free Scheme i.e. Import of Goods under Concessional Rates of Duty Scheme. This will be a major step in realizing our ambition of achieving the exporter target of USD 13. 7 billion by 2029-30 by the leather and footwear sector, from the export value of USD 4.69 billion during 2023-24.”

Jalan added, “On the export duty front, the export duty on wet blue and crust leather has been brought down from 40% to 20%. This will facilitate export of value added processed leathers from the country, as there is a huge demand for these leathers in the global market, We hope that the Government will further reduce this export duty for crust leathers from 20% to 0% in future, so as to achieve our objective of enhancing the export of value added leathers by USD 1 billion in the next 2-3 years'.

Commenting on the support measures announced for women workforce, Jalan said about 40% of workers in the leather and footwear industry are women."Announcement of support for setting up of working women hostels, establishing creches and women-specific skilling programmes will further enhance the women workforce in our sector and will help in their socio-economic development. Besides, the Employment Linked Incentive Scheme is a major support measure for the leather and footwear sector, as this is a labour intensive sector.