On July 10, 2025 the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce held a special meeting in Delhi to discuss the current state and future outlook of India’s leather and footwear industry.

The session, chaired by All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MP Dola Sen, brought together representatives from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Council for Leather Exports (CLE), and leather clusters from Kanpur and Chennai.

The meeting focused on unlocking new opportunities in the sector, especially with recent government reforms aimed at easing export procedures.

As announced earlier by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, restrictions on port usage have been lifted and mandatory testing by the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) for leathers has been removed.

These steps are expected to reduce transaction costs and improve ease of doing business, especially for MSME exporters.

Industry veteran Dr. N. Mohan, who attended the meeting as a representative of CII, shared his thoughts in a LinkedIn post:

“It was a privilege to attend the Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting… I had the privilege to present on behalf of CII the opportunities emerging in the non-leather footwear sector and the importance to grow the 3M Eco-System which will create a US$50 billion footwear and leather industry by 2030.”

Dr. N. Mohan, Footwear Industry Leader

This meeting signaled a strong alignment between government goals and industry vision to position India as a global hub for leather and footwear manufacturing in the years ahead.

Source – LinkedIn (Dr. N. Mohan), Indian Economic Observer