Council for Leather Exports urges government to extend PLI scheme to sector

The Council for Leather Exports has urged the government to extend its Production-linked Incentive scheme to the industry to boost both manufacturing and exports. The traders’ body has also requested import duty exemption for certain types of value-added leather products.

“Implementation of PLI will lead to structural transformation of the industry and will make the country a major manufacturing hub,” said the Council for Leather Exports’ chairman Rajendra Kumar Jalan, the Press Trust of India reported. “The benefits of PLI will include an incremental investment of Rs 6,000 crore and an additional employment generation of about two million labor workforce, both directly and indirectly.”

The Council for Leather Exports held a pre-budget meeting with the Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss goals for the industry and issues relating to it, ET Bureau reported. Jalan stressed at the meeting that extending the reach of the PLI scheme will aid the growth of startups and will help existing units to expand to increase the country’s overall leather production base.

“It is requested that the 10% import duty now being levied on wet blue, crust, and finished leathers may kindly be removed to increase the competitive priceness of the value-added products segment,” said Jalan. The organization also requested that export duties on value-added leathers be removed to boost global shipments.