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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said he is hopeful of India finalising certain free trade agreements (FTAs) in the next few months, which would help promote exports. India is in the final stages of concluding FTA negotiations with the UK. The country is also negotiating similar pacts with Canada and European Union (EU).

He stated ‘We can leverage the free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia and we are hopeful that in the next few months, we will finalise many more free trade agreements to help you grow your business with zero duty on finished leather products and footwear available for you to exploit bigger and better markets.’

Further, he also asked the industry to focus on quality and sustainable manufacturing processes to tap business opportunities in the developed world. The Indian footwear and leather industry is not only a major foreign exchange earner but being a labour-intensive sector, it also provides employment to around 4.5 million people, 40 per cent of whom are women.

He said that India has the capacity to become the world's largest and best-quality footwear manufacturer. India is the second largest exporter of leather garments, third-largest exporter of saddlery and harnesses and fourth-largest exporter of leather goods in the world. More than 95 per cent of the production units in this sector are micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME) units.