EDII to set up shoe making cluster in Janbazar

Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), an Ahmedabad-based national resource institute for entrepreneurship education, research, training and institution building, will establish a ‘common facility centre’ (CFC) in the Janbazar shoe making cluster in Kolkata.

The Janbazar common facility centre has received a sum of Rs 5 crore (approximately) from the state directorate of small, micro and medium industries, government of West Bengal. The amount includes funds for setting up the building, installation of plant & machinery, and establishment of a raw material bank. The project is likely to materialise in the next two years.

In its final phase, the common facility centre will contribute towards holistic development and sustainability of cobblers and also help manufacture shoes under the special purpose vehicle through a common brand name.


Commenting on the benefits of CFC, EDII senior faculty Sanjay Pal said, “The purpose of establishing CFC is to ensure that cobblers can scale up their business through improved productivity and easy procurement of raw material.”

“CFC will try and facilitate the beneficiaries by supplying them raw materials at lower price; by establishing marketing linkages and in many other ways,” added Kaushik Mukherjee, regional head, EDII-Kolkata.