Exports of leather and leather products for the first ten months of the current financial year (April 2018 - January 2019) amounted to 4.75 billion US dollars, which compares to a performance of 4.80 billion US dollars in similar period in previous fiscal year, recording a negative variance of -1.10%. In Indian Rupee terms, and taken the same period as reference, exports totalled 331.77 billion Indian Rupees (309.38 billion Indian Rupees in the previous year) registering growth of 7.24%.

Amongst the different categories of products of the industry, exports of leather footwear, accounting for 38.57% of total exports, increased by 0.95% in the period. The largest growth rate was registered by non-leather footwear with an increase in exports of 13.72%. Apart from a good performance by leather goods (+3.73% growth in exports) all other categories registered declines in exports in the first ten months of the current fiscal year. Exports of footwear components declined by 2.98%, leather garments by 8.80% and finished leather registered a decline of 14.19%.

In Indian Rupee terms, the performance of exports was better, with smaller declines in exports of leather garments (-1.11%) and finished leather (-6.95%) and higher growth rates int he other categories, resulting in an overall increase of value of exports of 7.24%.

The major markets for Indian leather & leather products are the United States with a share of 15.69%, Germany 11.88%, UK 10.63%, Italy 6.71% and France 5.67%. If to these we add Spain (4.56%), Hong Kong (3.51%), Netherlands (3.44%), UAE (2.94%), China (2.75%), Poland (2.52%) and Belgium (1.99%), we have a total of 12 countries accounting for nearly 72.29% of India’s total exports of leather and leather products.

According to the latest edition of the World footwear Yearbook (AVAILABLE HERE), in 2017 India was the 2^nd largest producer of footwear, with a 10.2% share in the world total (China continues to be the indisputable leader with a 57.5% quota). Despite being such a strong producer, India is only the 9^th largest exporter (share of 1.3%), given the fact that much production stays in the country and feeds the immense domestic market (India has an estimated population of roughly 1.4 billion people). In fact, according to the same source, in 2017, India overtook the US as the second largest consumer of footwear: a milestone in Asia’s ascent to prominence in the world market, reflecting strong demographic and economic trends (READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE). According to the same source, in 2017 the country was the 2nd largest producer of footwear: 2 409 million pairs and a global share of 10.2%