Using data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) the CLE estimates that sales abroad of leather, leather products and footwear (includes non-leather) for the financial year ended in April 2015 reached 6 494.4 million US dollars, compared to 5 938.0 million US dollars in the previous year. This represents a positive growth of 9.4%.

Leather footwear exports totaled 2 277.5 million US dollars in the period, growing 11.9% from the previous year (2 035.5 million US dollars).

In the same period exports of finished leather increased by 3.5% and leather goods by 7.3%.

Worth being highlighted is the performance of exports of non-leather footwear, with a significant growth of 51.7%, reaching 306.4 million US dollars during financial year 2014-15.

According to the same source, the main destinations for exports of leather and leather products during financial year 2014-15 were Germany (12.3%), US (11.8%), UK (11.6%) and Italy (7.8%), all together representing roughly 45% of total sales abroad of these products. Italy lost importance as a destination market (declining 2.7% from the previous year), while Germany increase its purchases from India by 4.5%. As for the US and the UK a significant growth of two digits, +12.9% and 13.0% respectively, consolidated these markets’ position.

The World Footwear Yearbook estimates that in 2013 India was the 9th largest exporter of footwear with a 1.2% share in total exports.