India’s leather and footwear exports are expected to surpass £4 billion in the current financial year on account of healthy demand in key global markets, according to the CLE.
India’s Council for Leather Exports (CLE) also urged the government to release pending refunds under MEIS (merchandise export from India scheme) as non-availability of liquidity is a major concern for exporters as of now. Similarly, this year's All Industry Rates of Drawback should be immediately revised to compensate for the duties imposed on the wet blue, crust, and finished leather as well as embellishments used in production, CLE Chairman Sanjay Leekha said.
"The ministry of commerce and industry has set up a reasonable target of USD 5.88 billion for the leather and footwear export sector and CLE is confident to achieve the target comfortably by the end of 2021-22," he said.
He also requested the government that the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) may kindly be extended to the sector.