The Indian Government’s determination to pursue an ‘Indian First’ agenda took another step forward last week with the news that all government departments are now obliged to give preference to domestic leather over imported material.
The edict requires ministries, departments, public sector units and defence forces to put domestic suppliers at the head of the queue when evaluating e-tenders for government contracts. In addition, it has been reported that domestic manufacturers that will supply goods such as saddlery, travel items, leather garments and high altitude footwear to the departments under the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India), Order 2017, will have to use a certain percentage of local content in their production.
A number of Indian Government departments have already identified a range of leather goods that would fall under the new rules. For example, The department of defence has identified as many as 90 such items and they will be notifying the domestic content for these products soon.
