Budget Reforms to Boost Leather Sector: CLE's Vision for Export Growth

The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) welcomes Budget reforms that rationalize customs duties and support women in the workforce. These measures, along with the employment-linked incentive scheme, aim to enhance job creation and boost leather exports. CLE Chairman Rajendra Kumar Jalan highlights the significance of these reforms for the sector's growth.

In a significant move, the rationalisation of customs duties in the Union Budget is poised to create more jobs and push exports in the leather sector, according to the Council for Leather Exports (CLE).

The recent Budget announcement, which includes provisions for working women hostels, creches, and women-specific skilling programs, is expected to bolster the female workforce participation in the sector. CLE Chairman Rajendra Kumar Jalan highlighted that the employment-linked incentive scheme is a crucial support measure for the labour-intensive leather and footwear sector.

Jalan elaborated on two major measures announced in the Budget: the rationalisation of export duties and the inclusion of key inputs under the Duty Free Scheme. These include wet blue chrome tanned leather, wet white leather, crust leather, and finished leather. The export duty on wet blue and crust leather has been reduced from 40% to 20%, facilitating the export of value-added processed leathers to meet global demand.

Jalan expressed hopes for further reductions in export duties to achieve the objective of boosting value-added leather exports by USD 1 billion in the next 2-3 years. He noted that allowing duty-free imports of critical raw materials would significantly aid in achieving the target export value of USD 13.7 billion by 2029-30 from USD 4.69 billion during 2023-24.

(With inputs from agencies.)