MOHAMMED ZIA NAFIS, President of Finished Leather Goods Section of Council of Leather Exports, who has two tanneries in Kolkata, used to buy raw leather and make finished goods. He is also in the chemical industry with distributorship of international brands of chemicals for the leather industry. In Eastern India, Nafis was the leading finished leather exporter for 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2017, in one of the categories called 50 to 100 crore category, he got first prize from the Council of Leather Exports in Chennai. In Kolkata, he is Joint Secretary of Kolkata Leather Complex Tanners Association, which controls 400 tanneries and pollution control treatment plants. He is also looking after the environmental aspect of the Kolkata Leather Complex and was the coordinator for the environment section of Council of Leather Exports. In an interview with MOHD NAUSHAD KHAN, he said the most important thing today is the replacement of leather with non-leather products and the Council of Leather Exports should put their best effort to promote leather all across the world. Excerpts:
How is the leather industry contributing to India’s growth story?
The leather industry is already in the making India project of our Government of India. The leather industry in the post-Covid-19 situation was really very bad because the international market was completely shut. But now the market has picked up and there is a positive trend in the growth of the industry. The graph is going upwards but not in a similar manner as it used to go before Covid-19. The growth is positive, not negative.
But there are different sectors, like in Kolkata we specialize in the industrial glove sector. This item is being used by all industries across the world. This sector is growing in a real positive manner. But the growth of sectors like the luxurious sector is comparatively slower than the industrial sector due to two reasons: One, even the economic situation in the European Union is still not back to the pre-COVID level. The buying powerhouses are still on the slower side in Europe. The other is thata lot of leather brands have been using leather-like products like synthetic and some other materialsinstead of leather in most of the sectors.
Another very important reason for the luxurious sector to go down is that a lot of different kinds of things have been promoted by different groups like Vegan. These people are trying to promote Vegan leather made out of leaves, wood,etc.Therefore, the luxurious sector, where they can replace leather with other products, is not growing properly. The shoe industry, the footwear which is to dominate the leather industry is the worst affected sector as compared to all other sectors like gloves and bags,etc. Shoes are getting affected because 90 percent of shoes are non-leather products,which are not cheaper than leather shoes. But still, people are using non-leather shoes.
Earlier, people used to say that non-leather material doesn’t breathe;therefore it leads to a lot of skin diseases – even to the extent of skin cancer. But now the Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Chinese companies have come to prove to the world that non-leather material also breathes. Leather is a natural product and it comes with its natural defects. But non-leather items are artificial, so it’s like 100 percent cutting value they are getting out of it. In leather, they lose some value when we cut the leather and that is the reason non-leather is taking the upper hand as compared to the leather sector,especially the footprint sector.
Leather is a vast sector used in industrial gloves, belts, wallets, upholstery, and garments. This is a big concern for us and I want our Council of Leather Exports, which is also linked with the Commerce Ministry of India, to do something to promote leather and hold events across the world to make people understand that leather is far better than no-leather things;otherwise leather will become a dying industry. In Kolkata,the glove industry is doing well because we don’t have a replacement product for this. Kolkata leather complex is one of the biggest leather complexes of the world and a lot of raw material is coming to Kolkata. In gloves, there is no subsidiary product coming and eating our market share. But when it comes to footwear, bags, and garments, everywhere artificial leather is eating our market.
How do you see the contribution of Muslims to the leather industryin Bengal, and in India?
You know, leather is a taboo for a lot of non-Muslim people. But when you come to Kolkata, it’s not like that because a lot of people who are manufacturing bags, wallets and industrial items are all non-Muslims.
When it comes to buying raw material in the tannery industry, you have to divide it into foursectors. The people who buy raw material are from the leather industry.Some are manufacturing, some are turning raw leather into finished products. Thereis also the tannery sector across the country; there are manufacturers and exporters. Manufacturersare catering to the domestic market and export market. And exporters only export to different markets. But as far as Muslims in Bengal are concerned, the tannery sector is dominated by Muslims. Many non-Muslims still don’t want to buy raw leather for whatever reason. Also, it’s not that non-Muslims don’t have tanneries over here, but it is dominated by Muslims for the simple reason that non-Muslims don’t want to do it.
In the South 24 Parganas, where leathers are manufactured, there are 75 to 80 percent Muslim workers engaged in this industry. As far as entrepreneurs are concerned, there are more than 80 percent Muslims. But when it comes to manufacturing and exports,there are 50 percent Muslims and 50 percent non-Muslims. Many non-Muslims are in the industry but they are only buying finished goods. Thus, Muslims are a very important part of the leather industry.
You have already said the leather industry was affected by the pandemic and it has not been able to come out of it.So, how badly was it affected during the pandemic, and to what extent has it recovered?
During the pandemic, it was very badly affected because the European and American markets were completely shut.And, China had closed all its work and a lot of leather products were exported to China also. But those markets were affected to the tune of 60 to 70 percent; there was no work at all. A lot of goods lying at various airports and seaports across the world got damaged and destroyed. Then again came the Russia-Ukraine war; that too affected the market badly. We are still in the recovering phase.
As per data available, we can see there is a slight growth and it’s not a diminishing industry. In Kolkata, we are surviving because we have got 400 tanneries, 40 plants, and 2000 exporters. So,Kolkata is doing relatively better than Kanpur. So,the Council of Leather Exports should come up with an idea as to how to promote leather as a product once again.
So, apart from what you have already mentioned, any other challenges you want to mention?What should be the way forward?
Leather being replaced by other items is the biggest challenge. I will request the Government of India again todo something extraordinary to help the leather industry, like extraordinary means, revising drawback rates to normal levels, providing subsidy to the industry, and easing norms of the pollution treatment.These measures will just help the industry grow in a better manner. The Council of Leather Exports should put its best effort to promote leather all across the world.