Tamil Nadu will soon have four new clusters with plug-and-play model factories for leather products manufacturing, according to senior officials of the leather trade and export promotion organisation.

“We have requested the Tamil Nadu government to allocate land for opening leather factories under plug-and-play model and the government also agreed and identified four spots so we expect a lot of foreign direct investment to come to Tamil Nadu,” R Selvam, Executive Director, Council for Leather Exports (CLE) told press persons here on Wednesday.

He was addressing a press conference organised by CLE to apprise the latest issues and developments in the leather industry.

He also added that Katpadi in Vellore district; Bargur in Krishnagiri; Tindivanam in Villupuram district; and Irungattukottai near Chennai are the four places identified for the proposed factories.

Under plug-and-play model, the State government offers land, road-connectivity, drainage and electricity connection to industry .

He also clarified that the new factories will be product manufacturing and not processing manufacturing facilities. The factory will produce various leather products such as shoes, handbags and wallets.

PR Aqueel Ahmed, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, said that scaling up of operations is one of the biggest challenges faced by the industry.

“Make in India, Invest India, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and CLE have together marked six countries to bring investments. We have visited Taiwan and the remaining countries will follow,” said Ahmed.

He also added that the new factories that will come up at the four clusters will bring an investment of about $50-100 million and provide 100,000 jobs of which 85 per cent will be for women.

The event also highlighted the 35th edition of India International Leather Fair (IILF) to be held in the city between January 31 and February 3. The four-day event will see around 15,000 participants from 40 countries.

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