Footwear and Leather Industry in India

India’s leather and footwear exports sit at around $4-4.5 billion today. The government wants that figure more than tripled within six years.

MCQ Questions

IndEco0161

$15 Bn Export Target

Piyush Goyal’s call to the leather and footwear industry, within the next 5-6 years.

Current Exports

$4-4.5 Bn

Leather and footwear exports today, the base the $15bn target builds from

Employment

44.2 Lakh

People currently employed; sector potential cited at up to 1 crore jobs

Global Rank

2nd

India’s rank as an exporter of leather garments worldwide

IFLDP Funding

₹1,700 Cr

Government support for the sector, through March 2026

Two different numbers: The $15bn goal is an export target. Separately, the government has set a wider turnover goal (total sector output, including domestic sales) of $50bn by 2030 — don’t confuse the two.

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Must Know

• India is the world’s second-largest exporter of leather garments, and the fourth-largest exporter of leather goods overall.
• India accounts for about 11.6% of global footwear production, and 12.4% of global footwear consumption.
• On 12 June 2026, the DPIIT amended two Quality Control Orders covering footwear made from leather and from rubber/polymeric materials.
• The amendments extended the legacy stock clearance deadline from 31 July 2026 to 31 July 2027. This gives manufacturers more time to sell existing inventory under the old rules.
• They also allow manufacturers to import up to 4,500 pairs of footwear annually for research and development, marked “NOT FOR SALE” and scrapped after use.
• On 6 July 2026, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urged the industry to target at least $15 billion in exports within 5-6 years. That’s up from today’s $4-4.5 billion.

Good to Know

• The sector currently employs about 44.2 lakh people. Goyal cited potential for the wider expansion to generate up to 1 crore jobs.
• The Indian Footwear and Leather Development Programme (IFLDP) provides ₹1,700 crore in government funding through March 2026, covering infrastructure and cluster-development support.
• Free trade agreements are cited as a key growth lever. These include the India-UK FTA, taking effect on 15 July 2026, and ongoing India-EU FTA negotiations.
• India holds roughly 33% of the world’s cattle and buffalo population, and 11% of the global goat and sheep population. That’s a major domestic raw-material base for the industry.
• Separately, Budget 2025 announced a Focus Product Scheme, allocating about $310 million toward a $48 billion sector turnover goal and 2.2 million jobs.

Test Yourself

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1. India ranks as the world’s second-largest exporter of which leather product category?

Leather footwear

Leather garments

Leather goods overall

Leather saddlery and harnesses

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Great to Know

• The 2026 Quality Control Order amendments align with the Prime Minister’s “Zero Defect, Zero Effect” manufacturing vision. They also support the Make in India initiative more broadly.
• Two separate government figures describe this sector’s ambitions. One is a $15 billion export target within 5-6 years; the other is a wider $50 billion total turnover goal by 2030. These measure different things — exports alone, versus the sector’s entire output including domestic sales.
• Extending compliance deadlines while still requiring eventual BIS certification shows a broader regulatory pattern. It gives industry a transition runway, rather than either dropping quality standards or enforcing them abruptly.