Leather is a unique commodity that links the grass-roots level of villages with high societies and traditional practises with emerging technologies. For many developing countries, leather and leather manufacturers constitute an indispensable and dependable source for export trade and foreign exchange earnings. For India, leather is a high-priority industrial sector, and footwear exports are an extreme focus area. In just four decades since independence, India has made significant gains from the leather trade, progressing from the status of an exporter of 90% or more raw hides and skins to that of an exporter and predominantly leather product manufacturer.

Buoyed by good past performance and encouraged by the expanding world market for leather articles, India is on the move to increase its market share from the present level of around 3%. Earning foreign exchange aside, such trade expansion would mean the generation of substantial employment, skill building, and entrepreneurship development, as well as other widely spread socio-economic benefits.