Indian footwear must brace for Dhaka threat

By Bindu D Menon, TNN | Oct 18, 2006, 01.52 AM IST

CHENNAI: Footwear is being touted as the engine of growth for the leather segment with major retail chains such as Walmart looking to increase outsourcing from India significantly to meet the global demand.

However, it has to brace itself to meet the competition, especially from countries like Bangladesh that have zero duty and is promoting itself as an ideal destination for the global importers.

“The recent decision by the European Union to impose anti-dumping duty of 16.5% and 10% on footwear from China and Vietnam respectively is a boon for the Indian footwear industry. All major importers are looking at India to meet the global demand for footwear,” Council for Leather Exports chairman M Rafeeque Ahmed told ET.

“We expect investments either in foreign direct investment or joint ventures to happen in six months to one-year period,” he said.

At present, India caters to the $15-20 segment while China and Vietnam caters to the $4-8 segment in the global footwear market.

“While footwear forms 38% of the total exports, our focus is mainly on European Union with 63% of exports going to EU nations. It is, however, important to focus on the US market for footwear and garments as it accounts for 30% of the global footwear market,” he said.

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