Using data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) the CLE estimates that sales abroad of leather and leather products for the period April 2015 – January 2016 reached 4 956.53 million US dollars, compared to 5 551.21 million US dollars in similar period of the previous year. This represents a decline of 10.7%.

Leather footwear exports totaled 1 802.48 million US dollars in the first ten months of the fiscal year, declining by 7.0% from similar period in the previous year (1 938.07 million US dollars).

In the same period exports of finished leather declined by 22.70% and leather goods by 5.4%.

Worth being highlighted is the performance of exports of non-leather footwear, the only category within the industry not showing declining exports. A stable performance compared to similar period in 2014-15, with a growth rate of only 1.4%.

The main destinations for the exports of leather and leather products during the period were Germany (11.5%), US (14.4%), UK (12.3%) and Italy (6.9%), all together representing roughly 45% of the sales abroad of these products.

According to the World Footwear Yearbook in 2014 India was the 8th largest exporter of footwear with a 1.2% share in total exports.