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Confederation of Indian Footwear Industries (CIFI) has chalked out a vision to counter the dominance of China and Vietnam in the global footwear market and to make India a premier non-leather footwear manufacturer.
China and Vietnam control 75 per cent of the world’s footwear market and these countries are well equipped to meet the rising global demand in terms of quality and capacity. India should act fast to regain its share to meet the global demand, said V. Noushad, CIFI national president.
India’s current export is only two per cent share of the world’s export while that of China stands at 64 per cent and Vietnam 10 per cent. The export opportunity for India is estimated to be 10 per cent of global export share, he added.
CIFI, which recently conducted its management committee meeting in Wayanad, decided to prepare a road map 2030 for the footwear industry to enhance India’s global share of production to 25 per cent from the current level of 10 per cent, he said.
‘Need for support’
With 30,000 footwear manufacturers, India is the second largest player in the global footwear industry. However, 80 per cent of the global footwear market is non-leather and there is a need for support from the government for the easy availability of raw materials, footwear components, moulds and machineries which are currently being imported from China.
The CIFI meeting also urged the Government to organise international footwear exhibitions for inviting global brands to India. Furthermore, the Government should also enter into Free Trade Agreements with countries having a major consumer market and invite leading footwear brands to invest in India.
As part of the initiative to get global exposure for Indian brands, around 30 footwear manufacturing firms under CIFI will be participating in the Nepal Expo in January 2023 as well as in the upcoming Sri Lanka Footwear and Leather Fair.
Despite being faced with challenges, Noushad said the Indian footwear industry has rebounded from Covid. However, the need of the hour is to have a support from the government to set up common exhibition centres for the Indian footwear industry and setting up shoe manufacturer’s offices in Dubai to promote Indian brands overseas.
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