Indian leather, footwear exports to WANA region up by 20% in 2022

Indian footwear and leather exports to West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region have registered an exponential growth of 20 per cent in the first half of 2022, officials said on Monday.

Opening the India Footwear and Leather Products Show 2022 in Dubai on Monday as part of the Indian government's export promotion drive across global markets, Council for Leather Exports (CLE) Chairman Sanjay Leekha said the growth momentum for Indian exports to the region is all set to see a marked scaling up, particularly in the UAE.

"Indian footwear and leather exports to West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region registered an exponential growth of 20 per cent in the first half of the 2022 fiscal, from April to September, with the UAE followed by Saudi markets leading the uptake," the CLE said in a press release.

The India Footwear and Leather Products Show 2022 will run from December 13-14.

As for footwear and leather exports, we are already on the road to a higher market share in WANA from the current 3.78 per cent this year, Leekha said.

According to CLE data, Indian footwear and leather exports to WANA in 2021-22 fiscal was at AED 677.30 million (USD 180.40 million), out of the total global exports of USD 4,872.70 million.

In the WANA region, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the major markets," Leekha said.

Indian footwear and leather exports to the UAE grew by 31.72 per cent during the first half of 2022 to AED 387.4 million (USD 105.48 million) compared to USD 80.05 million in 2021-22. Exports to Saudi Arabia grew to USD 28.56 million this year from last year's USD 23.23 million, up by 22.94 per cent.

We are emerging out of the pandemic slowdown when exports declined by 28 percent in 2020-21. However, we have recovered significantly in the last fiscal with exports registering a growth of 32 per cent overall, and the growth trend is continuing this year as well, Leekha said.