Centre proposes Rs 227 cr for leather institutes

An outlay of Rs 227 crore has been proposed during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2008-2012) by the ministry of commerce for setting up two new Footwear Design and Development Institutes (FDDIs) and upgrading the existing leather training institutes across the country.

The Rs 227-crore proposal is currently pending before the Planning Commission and is expected to be ready for implementation over the next 3-4 months after receiving necessary approvals.

The country's leather industry has sustained annual growth rate of about 15 per cent over the past few years. Total leather and leather product exports are forecast to reach $7 billion by 2010-11 from the current $3 billion and about half a million new jobs are expected to be generated during the period.

"Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has suggested setting up two new FDDIs in Chennai and Kolkota in the initial phase on outlays of Rs 75 crore," said K Elangovan, executive director, Council for Leather Exports.

It is also proposed to upgrade the existing FDDI at Noida, the Central Footwear Training Institutes in Chennai and Agra, Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in some states on an additional outlay of Rs 77 crore.

ITIs, which offer leather training courses in a few states, suffer from lack of infrastructure and latest technology. The government is keen to strengthen these ITIs by providing necessary technology and infrastructure to increase the capacity and offer more leather-oriented courses, said Elangovan.

The plan to upgrade existing FDDIs and set up two new FDDIs comes on the heels of the huge manpower shortage faced by the footwear industry at all levels.

The first FDDI was set up in 1986 at Noida in UP under the aegis of the ministry of commerce for imparting training in the footwear sector. The second FDDI has come up in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, recently.

M Rafeeque Ahmed, president, The All India Skin and Hide Tanners and Merchants Association, said efforts were being made to house the FDDI in the vicinity of leather clusters in Tamil Nadu.

"We have sought 10-15 acres of land free of cost from the state government for establishing the FDDI in Tamil Nadu. The state government is considering our request to allot the land near Irrungattukottai," Ahmed added.

Mukthtarul Amin, chairman, Council for Leather Exports (CLE), said leather training units across the country have a combined capacity for only 3,500 people. But the industry is seeking to increase this to 10,000 across categories to combat manpower shortage across all levels of the industry.