Global meltdown hits Indian leather industry

The Indian leather industry would not be able to achieve its export target of four billion US dollars this year due to the global meltdown, an official of Council for Leather Exports said.

The Indian leather industry would not be able to achieve its export target of four billion US dollars this year due to the global meltdown, an official of Council for Leather Exports said on Friday.

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Though first six months of the current financial year was extremely good for the industry, registering a 20 per cent growth in exports, it had gone down in the past two months, Habib Hussian Chairman Council for Leather Exports told reporters in Chennai.

This had also affected the growth rate, which came down to 14 per cent, he said.

Exports stood at two billion dollars at the end of December last, against the 3.5 billion dollars at the corresponding period of the previous year, he said, and added it would be a miracle if exporters would achieve the target for the current year.

There was delay in getting fresh orders from abroad and the importers, who already received consignments, had sought more time to make payments, he said.

As many as 392 companies, including 122 from abroad, would participate in the 24th edition of India International Leather Fair, which would commence in Chennai from Saturday, Rajiv Yadav, Executive Director, ITPO, said.