India invites Vietnamese shoe and leather enterprises to invest in the construction of factories on its territory and calls for the development of cooperation. A meeting of representatives of the Vietnamese and Indian leather and footwear enterprises took place last week in Ho Chi Minh City, the French publication Le Courrier du Vietnam reports.
“We invite Vietnamese enterprises to invest in the Indian economy in terms of the construction of production facilities and call for the development of cooperation between Vietnamese and Indian companies,” said Rafik Ahmed, President of the Indian Council for the Production and Export of Shoes and Leather Products.
In 2014, he said, the Indian government launched the Made in India campaign, one of which included inviting foreign businesses to invest in the Indian economy, with the aim of making this country of 1,3 billion inhabitants a global manufacturing site. At the same time, as Rafik Ahmed emphasizes, the leather and footwear industry are sectors that are subject to benefits. Currently, the volume of the domestic market for footwear and leather products in India is $ 6,5 billion, in 2020 this figure may reach $ 12 billion.
Lack of raw materials
For representatives of Vietnamese business, the Indian market can be interesting in terms of cheap skilled labor and raw materials. However, transportation costs may become an obstacle to cooperation between the two countries, since trade between Vietnam and India does not occur directly, but through Singapore.
Vietnam, as one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of shoes, is still facing a shortage of raw materials for the shoe and leather industries. In 2015, the country imported $ 1,2 billion worth of raw materials from the Republic of Korea, Thailand and China. This was assessed by Vice President of the Leather and Shoe Industry Association of Vietnam Deep Thanh Kiet. Last year, trade between Vietnam and India amounted to $ 7 billion. It is projected that by 2020, the volume of trade between the two countries could grow to $ 15 billion.
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