Agra Footwear Cluster
Apart from the Taj Mahal, Agra is well known for its footwear since the Mughal era.
Earlier, Agra was involved in leather manufacturing and tanning. This has decreased
due to threat to the beauty of the Taj. Now the Agra Leather Cluster is mainly into
the manufacturing of footwear. These can be further classified into Shoes (Industrial,
Military, Boots and Sports Shoes), Chappals, Sandals and Shoe Uppers.
The Agra Footwear Cluster comprises approximately 5000 units. Among these 50 units
are registered and are mechanised, while 200 units are registered and semi-mechanised.
The rest are small scale registered or unregistered firms, and even run as household
units/workshop. These small scale units usually function in a traditional manner,
with little or no mechanisation (Source: MSME-Agra – 2007).
The major areas of concentration of units are: Agra Cantonment, Agra-Mathura Bye
Pass Road, Collectorate, Lohamandi, Nai Ki Mandi, Sadar Bhatti, Shahganj and Taliya.
There are some other areas in Agra like Ratanpura, Chidda ka Nangla, Lal Masjid,
Etmad-ud-daulah, Tajganj, Dhanoli, Nandpura etc. where these units are concentrated.
Earlier major units were located in the centre of the city but due to the concern
for pollution and the availability of skilled labour in rural areas, they have been
shifted to the city outskirts.
Hing ki Mandi is considered to be the major market. Also the Haat held on Mondays
and Fridays at Chakkipat near Agra Fort is the most well-known market for selling
footwear and footwear components. People from different part of India visit this
place to sell and buy footwear and footwear components.
The Agra Footwear Cluster can be categorised into two parts according to the market
they are catering to. These are: Domestic Units and Export Units. Some of the units
in Agra are not in the manufacturing of entire shoes. They focus on the manufacturing
of shoe uppers. Small house hold units work only with the closing operation in the
shoe manufacturing process. So, some work is outsourced by the export houses to
these domestic units.
According to a survey done by the NGO, Aadhar, the availability of work is 5 months
currently. The average pairs produced per week is 96 pairs. There has been a major
shift in the production from making leather footwear to non-leather footwear in
the last five years.
A database of 63,000 footwear artisans has been developed by Aadhar. The estimated
number of artisans in the footwear sector is 99,424. Among the enrolled footwear
artisans, 87% are male and 13% are female. The average age of the workforce is 29
years. The average monthly income of an individual artisan is Rs. 2,765. The average
wage earned per pair per artisan is Rs. 5. The average time taken to learn the trade
is three years. The average age of entry into the trade is 15 years. The average
age of working independently is 18 years.
Very few artisans are employed by a factory directly. Usually these artisans are
employed through contractors.
The major cluster actors are
- Central Govt. Agencies (MSME Institute, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India)
- Technical Institutions (G.L.I., CFTI, Dayalbagh Leather Working School, Aadhar,
Rudset)
- Shoe Last Manufacturers
- Shoe Designers
- Footwear Components manufacturers
- Tools, Equipments & Machinery manufacturers
- Raw material suppliers
- Wholesalers/Traders
- Job work units
- Govt. Departments (DIC, UPSIDC etc)
- Financial Institution and Banks
- Council for Leather Export and Associations
There are two major associations: the Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters
Chamber (AFMEC) and the Agra Shoe Manufacturers Association (ASMA). Members of AFMEC
are engaged in the export of footwear while ASMA is for manufacturers catering to
the domestic market.
Challenges
The SMEs in leather and footwear confront several problems, which have remained
unresolved despite their strategic importance and immense potential for employment
generation and technology innovation. Some of the problems are related with the
State policy and regulations. Others are associated with the organisation and management
of SMEs.
The size of the units has played a negative role. 'Smallness" has led to individualism,
privacy, the attitude of non-sharing. All these act as growth inhibitors. The access
to resources is either denied or kept at a distance.
According to a survey done by Aadhar, the problems faced can be enumerated as
below:
- Lack of a cohesive business plan and feasibility study
- Lack of managerial and entrepreneurial skills
- Lack of concerted strategy and related linkages
- Lack of proper financial and credit structuring
- Deficiency in technological upgradation, innovation and choice of adequate technology
- Lack of R & D efforts
- Business mortality
- Lack of standardisation of process and product
- Lack of design development and product development
- Lack of quality manufacturing
- Lack of adequate training
- Productivity in organised and unorganised sector
- Lack of appropriate information
According to an ICT Diagnostics study done by PricewaterhouseCoopers for Project
Vikas, all the companies, from a tannery to a large leather product firm, face some
common challenges. These include uncertain inventory levels, optimising the productivity
of manual-intensive processes, and existence of accounting as a completely segregated
system with no visibility into how material and stock issues can have an impact
on the profitability. However, each segment has some challenges related to its various
processes. These issues have been considerably diminishing the competitiveness of
the clusters as a whole.
The trend in the Indian leather export industry is towards increasing number of
articles and reduced shipment sizes (number of pairs) per delivery. Newer styles
and high variability in raw material usage increases the time and effort for sampling
and order finalisation. Customers are also demanding orders to be fulfilled in shorter
overall timelines from previous 8-10 weeks to current 6 weeks to 4 weeks. Effective
usage of IT can help these firms simplify the sampling process and overcome the
challenge of on-time delivery for an increasing number of shipment sizes and variations.
However, there is very little IT awareness. A few units have their own ERP systems
while a few units use computer only for accounting purpose and e-communication with
buyers. Very small units do not even use computer for e-communication.
Project Vikas
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with AFMEC under Project Vikas
and an E-Readiness Center is being set up at the AFMEC premises. A web portal is
also being developed. This is in the testing stage.
Through sensitisation sessions held by Project Vikas, there is now awareness among
units regarding the use of IT. Software for Inventory and Wages, developed by Remiel
Softech, is in the trial stage. Seminars and workshops organised by Project Vikas
are being appreciated by the industry. Over 115 designers have been trained in basic
computer usage by Project Vikas.