New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Ministry will soon approach the Cabinet seeking approval for the scheme pertaining to the leather and footwear segment — on the lines of textiles — to boost manufacturing, exports and job creation.

In the Budget 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced plans to launch a scheme for the labour-intensive leather and footwear sector.

The scheme will be something similar to the package unveiled for the textiles sector in June last year.

Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ramesh Abhishek said the leather and footwear sector is very important as it provides huge employment opportunities.

“In the next few weeks, we will be moving to the Cabinet for approval of this scheme,” he told reporters here.

He said the DIPP has Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP), which promotes the sector.

For the next three years, the department has prepared a programme to revamp the ILDP.

Like the textiles package has the provisions to promote labour employment and other benefits, “we have included those for the leather scheme also”, he added.

When asked about the status on Foxconn and Nokia plant in Chennai, he said the ministry of electronics and IT are coordinating with the department of revenue and the state government on this.

Nokia plant has been freezed by the government due to a tax dispute of over Rs 21,000 crore. Electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn has reportedly shown interest in acquiring the plant but with condition that existing tax liability on Nokia should not be imposed on them.

On this issue, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that different departments are involved in this and the Prime Minister has intervened in Parliament on this “saying he is monitoring what is going on there”.

Talking about the Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES), she said unlike ASIDE, which was almost centrally funded scheme, the new scheme is going to be equal partnership between Centre and state for creating infrastructure which are important for promotion of exports.

Jaitley in his Budget speech had stated that a new and restructured central scheme with a focus on export infrastructure, namely, TIES will be launched in 2017-18.

Source: Times of India