Italy comes with a big bang
Stressing about importance of Indian market he said the business they have with India is about 20 million euros every year.
S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @svs037
Foreign players arrived in large numbers to take part in the 34th India International Leather Fair and Italy had a special place this time, it can be said. Compared to the previous fair where there were more than 30 companies from Italy, this time there were more than 50 companies.
It undoubtedly is said to be the player that has taken largest space in this three day mega event. Italy has a strong presence in machines extensively used in leather industry and they want to expand that, said Mario Pucci, international relations director with National Association of Manufacturers of Footwear, Leather Goods and Tanning Technologies.
Stressing about importance of Indian market he said the business they have with India is about 20 million euros every year. This is quite a significant number for them. However, Indian leather industry is facing issues with regards to pollution, shoe industry here is facing stiff competition from the products of many other countries, should these issues be resolved the business between the two countries in leather segment can move at a faster pace, he said.
Italian Trade Commissioner with Embassy of Italy in New Delhi Francesco Pensabene said Italy’s strong innovative capabilities, sizeable domestic and international market, high acceptance of ‘Made in Italy’ brand are some of the factors that have helped growth of Italy in the leather segment over the years.
At the global level, Italy is the largest exporter of leather machinery with an export size of 440 million euros. It also had 41 percent of share in global exports in calendar year of 2017, he said. A few other representatives from Italian companies said that high growth potential that Indian leather exports have, favourable investment climate have given rich business prospects for Italian companies.
The big point is that Indian leather industry is said to have expand significantly with a growth target of 50 percent in exports from 2016 to 2020, said a representative. The per capita consumption of footwear in India is projected to increase and total domestic consumption is said to be reaching five billion pairs by 2020, factors like these offer rich business prospects for Italian companies to target, said the representative.