India enforces quality control on some cheap leather imports
Perceiving it as an expedient and necessary move to safeguard the interests of domestic leather manufacturers, the central government has decided to regulate the quality control of leather footwear and some other products. The move is aimed to forbid the import of cheap goods.
As India imported leather articles worth $318.45 million from China in FY20 out of its overall import of $ 453.12 million in this sector. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has listed 10 products including leather safety boots and shoes, sports footwear, canvas boots rubber sole and anti riot shoes in the Footwear made from Leather and other material for which BIS certification under (Quality Control) Order, 2020 will be mandatory.
As per the notification of DPIIT, “Goods or articles…shall conform to the corresponding Indian Standard specified and shall bear the Standard Mark under a licence from the Bureau.”
The order came in the wake of govt’s push for its misson of #aatmanirbharbharat to boost domestic manufacturing. Few days back the same sort of order was issued for the toy industry which mandated toy manufacturers to abide by BIS norms for the material used in making toys for children under 14 years.
