Indian Footwear Industry Overview: Footwears Infoline

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Indian Footwear Industry Overview

Indian leather industry is the core strength of the Indian footwear industry. It is the engine of growth for the entire Indian leather industry and India is the second largest global producer of footwear after China.

Reputed global brands like Florsheim, Nunn Bush, Stacy Adams, Gabor, Clarks, Nike, Reebok, Ecco, Deichmann, Elefanten, St Michaels, Hasley, Salamander and Colehaan are manufactured under license in India. Besides, many global retail chains seeking quality products at competitive prices are actively sourcing footwear from India.

While leather shoes and uppers are produced in medium to large-scale units, the sandals and chappals are produced in the household and cottage sector. The industry is poised for adopting the modern and state-of-the-art technology to suit the exacting international requirements and standards. India produces more of gent’s footwear while the world’s major production is in ladies footwear. In the case of chapels and sandals, use of non-leather material is prevalent in the domestic market.

Leather footwear exported from India are dress shoes, casuals, moccasins, sport shoes, horrachies, sandals, ballerinas, boots. Non-leather footwear exported from India are Shoes, Sandals and Chappals made of rubber, plastic, P.V.C. and other materials.

With changing lifestyles and increasing affluence, domestic demand for footwear is projected to grow at a faster rate than has been seen. There are already many new domestic brands of footwear and many foreign brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Florsheim, Rockport, etc. have also been able to enter the market.

The footwear sector has matured from the level of manual footwear manufacturing methods to automated footwear manufacturing systems. Many units are equipped with In-house Design Studios incorporating state-of-the-art CAD systems having 3D Shoe Design packages that are intuitive and easy to use. Many Indian footwear factories have also acquired the ISO 9000, ISO 14000 as well as the SA 8000 certifications. Excellent facilities for Physical and Chemical testing exist with the laboratories having tie-ups with leading international agencies like SATRA, UK and PFI, Germany.

One of the major factors for success in niche international fashion markets is the ability to cater them with the latest designs, and in accordance with the latest trends. India, has gained international prominence in the area of Colours & Leather Texture forecasting through its outstanding success in MODEUROP. Design and Retail information is regularly made available to footwear manufacturers to help them suitably address the season's requirement.

The Indian Footwear Industry is gearing up to leverage its strengths towards maximizing benefits.

Strength of India in the footwear sector originates from its command on reliable supply of resources in the form of raw hides and skins, quality finished leather, large installed capacities for production of finished leather & footwear, large human capital with expertise and technology base, skilled manpower and relatively low cost labor, proven strength to produce footwear for global brand leaders and acquired technology competence, particularly for mid and high priced footwear segments. Resource strength of India in the form of materials and skilled manpower is a comparative advantage for the country.

The export targets from 2007-08 to 2010-11 as tabulated below reflects the fact that footwear sector is the most significant segment of the Leather Industry in India.

The export targets from 2007-08 to 2010-11

(In Million US$)

Product	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
	Actual Export
Leather	688.05	726.85	785.00	847.80	915.63
Footwear	1212.25	1967.88	2597.60	3428.83	4526.05
Garments	308.98	358.53	372.87	387.78	403.30
Leather Goods	690.66	733.34	798.69	870.06	948.04
Saddlery & Harness	81.85	105.66	127.85	154.70	187.19
Total	2981.79	3892.26	4682.01	5689.17	6980.21

India has emerged in recent years as a relatively sophisticated low to medium
cost supplier to world markets –The leather industry in India has been targeted
by the Central Government as an engine for economic growth. Progressively, the
Government has prodded and legislated a reluctant industry to modernise. India was noted as a supplier of rawhides and skins semi processed leather and some shoes.

In the 1970’s, the Government initially banned the export of raw hides and skins,
followed this by limiting, then stopping the export of semi processed leather and
encouraging local tanneries to manufacture finished leather themselves. Despite
protestations from the industrialists, this has resulted in a marked improvement in
the shoe manufacturing industry. India is now a major supplier of leather footwear
to world markets and has the potential to rival China in the future (60% of Chinese
exports are synthetic shoes).

India is often referred to as the sleeping giant in footwear terms. It has an installed
capacity of 1,800 million pairs, second only to China. The bulk of production is
in men’s leather shoes and leather uppers for both men and ladies. It has over 100 fully mechanised, modern shoe making plants, as good as anywhere in the world (including Europe). It makes for some upmarket brands including Florsheim (US), Lloyd (Germany), Clarks (UK), Marks and Spencer (UK).

India has had mixed fortunes in its recent export performance. In 2000, exports of
shoes were US$ 651 million, in 2001 these increased to 663 million but declined
in 2002 to 623 million dollars (See Statistics).

The main markets for Indian leather shoes are UK and USA, which between them
take about 55% of total exports.

India has not yet reached its full potential in terms of a world supplier. This is due
mainly to local cow leather that although plentiful, has a maximum thickness of 1.4
– 1.6mm, and the socio / political / infrastructure of the country. However, India
is an excellent supplier of leather uppers. Importation of uppers from India does not infringe FTA with Europe or the USA.

The potential is set to change albeit slowly, but with a population rivalling China for
size, there is no doubt the tussle for world domination in footwear supply is
between these two countries.

Few Interesting Facts:

- The Indian footwear retail market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% for the period spanning from 2008 to 2011.

- Footwear is expected to comprise about 60% of the total leather exports by 2011 from over 38% in 2006-07.

- Presently, the Indian footwear market is dominated by Men's footwear market that accounts for nearly 58% of the total Indian footwear retail market.

- By products, the Indian footwear market is dominated by casual footwear market that makes up for nearly two-third of the total footwear retail market.

- As footwear retailing in India remain focused on men's shoes, there exists a plethora of opportunities in the exclusive ladies' and kids' footwear segment with no organized retailing chain having a national presence in either of these categories.

- The Indian footwear market scores over other footwear markets as it gives benefits like low cost of production, abundant raw material, and has huge consumption market.

- The footwear component industry also has enormous opportunity for growth to cater to increasing production of footwear of various types, both for export and domestic market.

In a Nutshell:

There are nearly 4000 units engaged in manufacturing footwear in India. The industry is dominated by small scale units with the total production of 55%. The total turnover of the footwear industry including leather and non-leather footwear is estimated at Rs.8500-9500 crore (Euro 551.3-1723.1 Million) including Rs.1200-1400 crore (Euro 217.6-253.9 Million) in the household segment.

India's share in global leather footwear imports is around 1.4% Major Competitors in the export market for leather footwear are China (14%), Spain (6%) and Italy (21%).

The footwear industry exist both in the traditional and modern sector. While the traditional sector is spread throughout the country with pockets of concentration catering largely to the domestic market, the modern sector is largely confined to select centres like Chennai, Ambur, Ranipet, Agra, Kanpur and Delhi with most of their production for export.

Assembly line production is organized, and about 90% of the workforces in the mechanized sector in South India consist of women. In fact, this sector has opened up plenty of employment opportunities for women who have no previous experience. They are trained to perform a particular function in the factory itself.

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