Footwear Industry
There are nearly 4000 units engaged in manufacturing footwear in India. The industry is dominated by small scale units with the total production of 55%. The total turnover of the footwear industry including leather and non-leather footwear is estimated at Rs.8500-9500 crore including Rs.1200-1400 crore in the household segment. India's share in global leather footwear imports is around 1.4% Major competitors in the export market for leather footwear are China (14%), Spain (6%) and Italy (21%).
India is the second largest footwear producer in the world. It accounts for 20 percent of India's total export of leather and leather products. Major markets include the UK, USA, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Russia. Of total exports of footwear from India, around 64 percent goes to UK, USA and Germany.
Indian leather industry has capacity to produce l776 million pairs; 112 million pairs of Shoe Uppers ; Non-leather footwear - 960 million pairs of non-leather footwears which includes shoes made of rubber, moulded PVC and other material.
The Footwear Industry is a significant segment of the Leather Industry in India.India ranks second among the footwear producing countries next to China.India produces more of gents’ footwear while the world’s major production is in ladies footwear.
The industry is labour intensive and is concentrated in the small and cottage industry sectors. While leather shoes and uppers are concentrated in large scale units, the sandals and chappals are produced in the household and cottage sector.
In the case of chappals and sandals, use of non-leather material is prevalent in the domestic market.
The major production centers India are Chennai, Ranipet, Ambur in Tamil Nadu, , Mumbai in Maharastra, Kanpur in U.P. , Jalandhar in Punjab, Agra and Delhi.
The estimated annual footwear production capacity in 1999 is nearly 1736 million pairs (776 million pairs of leather footwear and 960 million pairs of non-leather footwear).
Shoes manufactured in India wear brand names like Florsheim, Gabor, Clarks, Salamander and St. Micheal’s. As part of its effort to play a lead role in the global trade, the Indian leather industry is focusing on key deliverables of innovative design, consistently superior quality and unfailing delivery schedules.
India in itself has a huge domestic market, which is largely untapped.The Indian footwear industry is provided with institutional infrastructure support through premier institutions like Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, Footwear Design & Development Institute, Noida, National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, etc in the areas of technological development, design and product development and human resource development.
The availability of abundant raw material base, large domestic market and the opportunity to cater to world markets makes India an attractive destination for technology and investments.