As Russia continues to fight a war against Ukraine, a lesser-known success story is from a manufacturing facility in Bihar's Hajipur. Russian soldiers continue to march on with boots ‘Made in Bihar’ from this facility.
Hajipur, known for its agricultural products, has acclaimed its international presence by manufacturing shoes for the Russian army. A private company called Competence Exports is making safety shoes for Russian companies and designer shoes that cater to the European markets. They also export luxury designer or fashion shoes to countries like Italy, France, Spain, and the UK.
Shib Kumar Roy, the company's general manager, told ANI, "We started the Hajipur facility in 2018, and the main interest is to generate local employment. At Hajipur, we make safety shoes that are meant to be exported to Russia. Total exports are for Russia, and we are also slowly working on Europe and will launch in the domestic market soon."
The company's head of fashion development, Mazhar Pallumiah, said the company aims to develop high-end shoes for international brands and has started negotiations with a Belgian company. Initially having some reservations, the companies were assured after seeing the quality of the samples, he added.
Roy said the response has been tremendous and the company has become one of the largest exporters to Russia. They exported 1.5 million pairs last year worth ₹100 crore, and aim to increase it by 50 per cent next year. Roy only expects the export numbers to expand in future.
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{{/usCountry}}Roy said the response has been tremendous and the company has become one of the largest exporters to Russia. They exported 1.5 million pairs last year worth ₹100 crore, and aim to increase it by 50 per cent next year. Roy only expects the export numbers to expand in future.
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{{/usCountry}}A significant number of women are employed by the company.
"The ambition of the company's MD, Danesh Prasad, is to make a world-class factory in Bihar and contribute to state employment. We are trying our best to give maximum employment to employees, of which 70 percent are women out of 300 employees," Roy told ANI.
He added that though the Bihar government has promoted and supported the industries, infrastructure like roads and communication needs to be improved so that Russian buyers can communicate easily.
Roy wanted a training institute to be set up so that the company could avoid skilling expenses before induction. Pallumiah said starting a fashion industry is a challenge in Bihar but expressed confidence in the vision of promoters and the government's support.
(With inputs from ANI)