The central government will chart out an aggressive marketing strategy to achieve the envisaged leather export target of $7 billion by 2010-11 and would look at setting up five special economic zones (SEZ) for leather goods and products, Jairam Ramesh, union minister of state for commerce, said.The council for leather exports had proposed a five year plan for the leather industry to enhance its exports $7 billion over the next five years from the present $2.39 billion (2004-05), Ramesh said after releasing India Leather Industry - a vision document for 2010-11.Four major changes in the leather sector are required to achieve a quantum leap in growth over the next five years. Firstly, the industry should increase the share of footwear in leather exports to 50% during next five years. Secondly, in terms of shift in market focus, determined efforts to focus on unexplored markets like Scandinavian and African countries and increasing the share of exports to US from the present 12% to 25% over the next 5 years are needed. Thirdly, there is a need to change the product mix in footwear segment in favour of growth segments like children and ladies shoes. Finally, the industry must switch over to volumes rather than persisting in high value segments, Ramesh said.
