Leather and Footwear in India
Kanpur, Agra and Vellore: Leather Clusters
How India's leather industry concentrates in clusters like Kanpur, Agra, Vellore-Ambur and Kolkata, each specialising in different products.
India’s leather industry is concentrated in clusters.
Major clusters
- Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh): tanneries and saddlery; historically supplied the British Army.
- Agra (UP): footwear, with thousands of small units.
- Vellore-Ambur-Ranipet (Tamil Nadu): tanneries and export footwear.
- Chennai: large export factories.
- Kolkata: leather goods and tanneries.
- Jalandhar (Punjab): sports goods.
Specialisation
Each cluster specialises: Agra in shoes, Kanpur in tanning and saddlery, Tamil Nadu in export footwear.
Benefits
- Shared suppliers of chemicals, lasts and machinery.
- Skilled artisans.
- Buyers visit clusters to find suppliers.
Small firms
Many units are small, family-run workshops.
Tamil Nadu’s role
Tamil Nadu accounts for a large share of leather exports and attracted non-leather footwear investment recently.
The Agra workshop
In Agra, a small workshop with ten artisans makes leather shoes for a domestic brand, buying soles from a neighbour and leather from a nearby trader.
Thinking leather production is spread evenly
It's concentrated in specialised clusters.
Key takeaways
- India's leather industry clusters in Kanpur, Agra, Vellore-Ambur and Kolkata.
- Each cluster specialises.
- Clusters share suppliers and skills.
- Tamil Nadu leads exports.
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