NEW DELHI: The country's leather and footwear exports are expected to touch about USD 6 billion in the current financial year on account of healthy demand in key global markets, CLE said on Tuesday.
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 informed that the industry is labour intensive, providing employment to 45 lakh people. The sector has a total turnover of USD 17.09 billion, which includes exports of USD 5.09 billion and domestic industry turnover of USD 12 billion during 2019-20.
"The sector has the potential to reach a total turnover of USD 30 billion in next five years, which includes the domestic turnover of USD 20 billion and export turnover of USD 10 billion and generate additional employment for 15 lakh more people," he added.
He also requested the government that the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) may kindly be extended to the sector.