26th IILF 2011: A BRIEF REPORT
V.M. Khaleelur Rahman
Although there is no dearth of leather fairs on international level, it is only 4 or 5 fairs which are considered the most important and worth participating every year. The India International Leather Fair (IILF) is one of them. The 26th IILF 2011 held from 31st January to 3rd February 2011 with a gala inauguration by Mr. Virbhadra Singh, the hon’ble Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India and presided over by Dr. Subas Pani, Chairman & Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) at the Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai was a well improved and well organized one with approximately 18,000 sq.mts. gross area and over 400 exhibitors from home and abroad with all their glittering paraphernalia.
Mr. Salman Khurshid, Hon’ble Union Minister of Water Resources and Minority Affairs, Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, Dr. Rahul Khullar, Commerce Secretary, Government of India and Mr. Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Government of India, Mr. A.B. Mandal, Director, Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, Mr. Ali Ahmed Khan, Executive Director, Council for Leather Exports, Chennai were among the dignitaries present on the dais and spoke on the occasion.
Mr. Mandal stressed the need for achieving global leadership by utilizing our country India’s abundant resources in terms of skilled manpower, raw material, design techniques, entrepreneurial skills and investing substantially in the tanning sector for implementing modernization schemes, improving productivity and rationalizing labour policies. Mr. Ali Ahmed Khan explained that the Council had been taking a lot of market promotion efforts to increase India’s share in the global leather trade and had been actively promoting Buyer-Seller meets at various locations worldwide.
The hon’ble Ministers Mr. Virbhadra Singh and Mr. Salman Khurshid assured the leather industry of their “supportive measures” to make it more competitive in the world market. Dr. Subas Pani said that the leather industry should attain the status like the software and auto sectors.
The CLE Chairman, Mr. Rafeeque Ahmed was felicitated in the function for the prestigious Padma Shri award conferred on him. Mr. M. Mohammed Hashim, an industrialist and former Chairman, Council for Leather Exports who delivered the felicitation address paid high tributes to him and said that he deserved it well for his excellent service for the development of the leather industry. The audience cheered the Padma Shri awardee with a standing ovation.
Mr. Rafeeque Ahmed expressed his thanks for the felicitation and said that the leather and leather products registered consistent growth in the past several years and reached US$ 3.40 billion during 2009-10 recording cumulative growth rate of about 5.43% in last 5 years. He was optimistic of the industry having the potential to achieve the turnover target of $8.25 billion by 2013-14 if the government extended additional support in necessary areas. He talked about the necessity of “mega leather clusters” on the lines of those in the handloom and power loom sectors and constituting a Rs.100 crore corpus for skill upgrade in the leather sector.
Mr. S.M. Shahid of M/s. Zam Zam Tanners, Kanpur was specially honoured with the “Doyen of Leather Industry Award” for his contribution towards development of Indian leather industry.
A total of 62 member-exporters belonging to the leather and leather products and other categories were honoured for their export performance for the year 2009-10. The hon’ble Ministers Mr. Virbhadra Singh and Mr. Salman Khurshid presented the Awards to them.
The seminars organized by the IFLMEA and CLE on the following subjects were useful to the participants.
1. Brand Building through Design
2. Carbon Footprint
3. Environmental Audit
4. Sustainable Leather Management
5. New Development in Antifungal Process
6. Is it time to measure time? – Introducing work measurement-improving efficiency and
7. Process Innovations & Lean Six Sigma to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
There were mostly overseas exporters of leather, chemicals, machinery and equipment among the exhibitors. Many Chennai based leading exporters of leather and leather products were conspicuous by their absence for the reasons best known to them. However the forthcoming APLF-MM&T fair to be held at Hong Kong from 30th March to 1st April 2011 will attract these and many more exporters as usual. Many are getting ready to participate in it. It is the wish of many tanners that the IILF should achieve the status the Hong Kong and Paris fairs have got.
No doubt the fair provided an excellent opportunity for the visitors and participants to meet, discuss and plan their marketing and development strategies in accordance with the demand of the present time. Although it was interesting, charming and entertaining, it looked like a routine affair – a stereotype - without any new additions. Everything was on expected lines. Many in the industry feel that the organizers would do well to:
1. attract more leather and leather products importing companies to the fair as in the cases of the Hong Kong and Paris fairs, if necessary with some attractive offers.
2. initiate some Indian cultural programmes in the evening to entertain visitors and participants from different countries and also to highlight the rich cultural heritage of our country.
3. arrange a valedictory function with a detailed report of the fair.
to make the IILF more glamorous and beneficial for all sections of the people.
(VMK in Indian Leather, March 2011 issue)
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V.M. Khaleelur Rahman
Although there is no dearth of leather fairs on international level, it is only 4 or 5 fairs which are considered the most important and worth participating every year. The India International Leather Fair (IILF) is one of them. The 26th IILF 2011 held from 31st January to 3rd February 2011 with a gala inauguration by Mr. Virbhadra Singh, the hon’ble Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India and presided over by Dr. Subas Pani, Chairman & Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) at the Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai was a well improved and well organized one with approximately 18,000 sq.mts. gross area and over 400 exhibitors from home and abroad with all their glittering paraphernalia.
Mr. Salman Khurshid, Hon’ble Union Minister of Water Resources and Minority Affairs, Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, Dr. Rahul Khullar, Commerce Secretary, Government of India and Mr. Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Government of India, Mr. A.B. Mandal, Director, Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, Mr. Ali Ahmed Khan, Executive Director, Council for Leather Exports, Chennai were among the dignitaries present on the dais and spoke on the occasion.
Mr. Mandal stressed the need for achieving global leadership by utilizing our country India’s abundant resources in terms of skilled manpower, raw material, design techniques, entrepreneurial skills and investing substantially in the tanning sector for implementing modernization schemes, improving productivity and rationalizing labour policies. Mr. Ali Ahmed Khan explained that the Council had been taking a lot of market promotion efforts to increase India’s share in the global leather trade and had been actively promoting Buyer-Seller meets at various locations worldwide.
The hon’ble Ministers Mr. Virbhadra Singh and Mr. Salman Khurshid assured the leather industry of their “supportive measures” to make it more competitive in the world market. Dr. Subas Pani said that the leather industry should attain the status like the software and auto sectors.
The CLE Chairman, Mr. Rafeeque Ahmed was felicitated in the function for the prestigious Padma Shri award conferred on him. Mr. M. Mohammed Hashim, an industrialist and former Chairman, Council for Leather Exports who delivered the felicitation address paid high tributes to him and said that he deserved it well for his excellent service for the development of the leather industry. The audience cheered the Padma Shri awardee with a standing ovation.
Mr. Rafeeque Ahmed expressed his thanks for the felicitation and said that the leather and leather products registered consistent growth in the past several years and reached US$ 3.40 billion during 2009-10 recording cumulative growth rate of about 5.43% in last 5 years. He was optimistic of the industry having the potential to achieve the turnover target of $8.25 billion by 2013-14 if the government extended additional support in necessary areas. He talked about the necessity of “mega leather clusters” on the lines of those in the handloom and power loom sectors and constituting a Rs.100 crore corpus for skill upgrade in the leather sector.
Mr. S.M. Shahid of M/s. Zam Zam Tanners, Kanpur was specially honoured with the “Doyen of Leather Industry Award” for his contribution towards development of Indian leather industry.
A total of 62 member-exporters belonging to the leather and leather products and other categories were honoured for their export performance for the year 2009-10. The hon’ble Ministers Mr. Virbhadra Singh and Mr. Salman Khurshid presented the Awards to them.
The seminars organized by the IFLMEA and CLE on the following subjects were useful to the participants.
1. Brand Building through Design
2. Carbon Footprint
3. Environmental Audit
4. Sustainable Leather Management
5. New Development in Antifungal Process
6. Is it time to measure time? – Introducing work measurement-improving efficiency and
7. Process Innovations & Lean Six Sigma to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
There were mostly overseas exporters of leather, chemicals, machinery and equipment among the exhibitors. Many Chennai based leading exporters of leather and leather products were conspicuous by their absence for the reasons best known to them. However the forthcoming APLF-MM&T fair to be held at Hong Kong from 30th March to 1st April 2011 will attract these and many more exporters as usual. Many are getting ready to participate in it. It is the wish of many tanners that the IILF should achieve the status the Hong Kong and Paris fairs have got.
No doubt the fair provided an excellent opportunity for the visitors and participants to meet, discuss and plan their marketing and development strategies in accordance with the demand of the present time. Although it was interesting, charming and entertaining, it looked like a routine affair – a stereotype - without any new additions. Everything was on expected lines. Many in the industry feel that the organizers would do well to:
1. attract more leather and leather products importing companies to the fair as in the cases of the Hong Kong and Paris fairs, if necessary with some attractive offers.
2. initiate some Indian cultural programmes in the evening to entertain visitors and participants from different countries and also to highlight the rich cultural heritage of our country.
3. arrange a valedictory function with a detailed report of the fair.
to make the IILF more glamorous and beneficial for all sections of the people.
(VMK in Indian Leather, March 2011 issue)
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