In a major boost to the leather industry, a mega leather park is likely to come up in Vellore district. The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is in talks with the State government for providing a suitable piece of land in the district.
According to the CLE’s proposal, the leather park will come up on 100 acres of land and it will house hundreds of micro small and medium enterprises related to the leather sector. The park is expected to come up at a cost of Rs 350 crore. It will also have a laboratory testing centre and products designing centre.
“The park will give a much-needed boost to the leather industry. The State contributes at least 40 per cent of the exports which are made from India in the leather sector and has a lot of growth potential,†said Israr Ahmed, regional chairman (South), CLE. “We are chalking out modalities of the project with the State government and they are showing very positive response in the matter. The project is likely to start soon,†he added.
CLE officials claimed there are over 700 medium and small industries functioning in the State and the sector provides job to lakhs of people, at least 80 per cent of which are women. Major leather industries are located in Ambur, Ranipet, Vanniyambadi, Pernambut, and Chennai region. The industry produces products like shoes, accessories, bags, leather garments.