Leather hub cries for political attention

Chennai: It's a feel of neglect at India's biggest leather export hub in Chennai. The real effect of the slowdown in the region has been on the micro, small and medium enterprises who are fighting to stay afloat.

For Subburam, a small-scale entrepreneur who buys lower quality raw material and supplies to a leather glove factory, the last one year has been a journey of ups and downs. With great difficulty, he has managed to bring his business back to track.

Yet, the business is down nearly 50per cent. There are more than 1000 such SMEs in and around Chennai who are feeling the real pinch of survival during the slowdown.

The businessmen in the region feel they are fighting the slowdown all by themselves.

"It's like a gamble. We don't have a regular income. Sometimes we get Rs 2,000 to 3,000 per tonne. At times we suffer heavy losses," Subburam said.

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A small leather machining industry, which employs around 20 people in the outskirts of Chennai, does business of anywhere between Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh a month.

Two months back, there was largely a gloom among the industrialists because of very low orders. They were cash strapped to even pay their wages. But now it's a sharp turnaround that has the businessmen here looking for a bright future.

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Timely order from an exporter has helped Nooruddin stay in business. While election promises have been abundant, the feel is there has been no attention when they are in need.

"A little help from the state government in the form of subsidies will help us a lot. Our machinery is expensive and interest rates are also high. With salary levels being so high, we are too dependent on banks," he said.

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This is the other face of the leather cluster. Sprawling companies have helped this export hub to be rated among the 10 most dynamic industrial clusters in the world by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.

India exports leather goods worth 3.5 billion dollars. China on the other hand clocks leather exports worth 25 billion dollars. With European companies eyeing for quality against quantity, exporters here feel, India holds the edge. And even a 10 per cent chunk from China's exports will mean an increase by 2.5 billion dollars.

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"What we have learnt from this recession is that we have to weather this storm ourselves. There is very little the government can do. If there is a person who is in need, you obviously assess him on the same scale when he was doing well. So relaxation of lending norms would have helped us a lot," said Habib Husain, Vice-Chairman of the Council for Leather Exports.

India's leather exporters score where others don't -- quality, competitive price and reliability of delivery. To add, another main aspect that brings in money is quantity. Now their hope is that a little more attention from the new government and policies will help the small and medium enterprises.