Sunday, March 18, 2012

INDIA INTERNATIONAL LEATHER FAIR (IILF) 2012

INDIA INTERNATIONAL LEATHER FAIR (IILF) 2012
V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

The 27th India International Leather Fair 2012 held from 31st January to 3rd February 2012 in Chennai in which 425 exhibitors including 136 from 23 overseas countries participated was highly successful. It was inaugurated by Mr. S.S. Palanimanickam, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance in a glittering function presided over by Ms. Rita Menon, IAS, Chairperson and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Orgnisation (ITPO) in the evening on Tuesday, 31st January 2012 and Export Excellence Awards 2010-11 initiated by Council for Leather Exports (CLE) were distributed to various winners. Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, CLE, Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Executive Director, ITPO and Mr. R.K. Jalan, Vice-Chairman, CLE were among those present on the dais. Mr. Neeraj Kumar welcomed the gathering and spoke about the importance of the fair. The hon’ble minister complimented the leather industry for its impressive growth and the ITPO and other support organizations for making this fair a grand one. He also assured the industry of continued support from the Government.

Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, CLE appreciated and thanked the ITPO for the significant growth of the IILF and lauded the leather industry for going in the right direction and having done well in the areas of Product Design, Environmental Management, Training of Workforce etc. and expected an export achievement of US$ 4.72 billion.

Ms. Rita Menon, Chairperson, ITPO said that the IILF was an excellent event which demonstrated India’s achievements in the field of leather and leather products and complimented ITPO, CLE, CSIR and CLRI for setting up “Versatality” – the THEME pavilion at IILF 2012 showcasing Indian capabilities in Design and Fashion forecasting. According to her the fair has grown over the years both in terms of number of participants and visitors and that it is recognized as one of the important leather promotion events of India.

The IILF presented a wide range of leather and leather products such as shoes, shoe components, garments, goods, chemicals, machinery etc. and provided a good opportunity for the people connected with the leather industry to understand the current trends in the world leather industry and make arrangements for their requirements. It was highly successful with quite of a large number of exhibitors from home and abroad. But some regular overseas suppliers of raw and wet blue hides and skins were conspicuous by their absence this time. Perhaps they had nothing to offer in these items which are in short supply now not only in our country but also abroad. Even some Arab countries have stopped supplies of these items because of their internal problems. There is no possibility of importing these items even from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Some participants I talked to had all praise for the organizers for the excellent conduct of the fair but felt that there is need for further improvements. Their suggestions run as follows:

The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) would do well to arrange for more delegations of potential buyers from importing countries of leather and leather products to visit the IILF in order to provide an opportunity to Indian exporters to develop business contacts with them and increase their export and details of such buyers should be given in a separate booklet for the benefit of the exporters.

There should be a separate Cell in the CLE to solve problems of imports and exports.

The leather industry is growing fast but the electricity “power cut” is a big hurdle in its way. Small units are particularly the worst sufferers. The different trade associations in the State should join together and do the needful to protect the interest of the industry.

The leather industry will be happy to know that the ITPO has decided to make the IILF event in Chennai by-annual as the demand for participation by Indian and overseas exhibitors is very much on the increase. It will be welcomed by all as it is expected to pave way for frequent trade meetings and collaborations among Indian and overseas traders and industrialists. No doubt the ITPO is well on the forward march.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------











No comments:

Post a Comment