The Indian footwear sector is one of the most fascinating areas in the present global scenario of technological development and has two-ways contribution to the Nation’s economy and development, one is employment generation and another one is earning of foreign exchange. It currently contributes export earning of about Rs. 8847 crores (2000-01) and provides employment to nearly 25 lakh person. Kee
ping this in view, the thrust is on the development of indigenous footwear products of international quality for local consumption. One way to do this is to educate local talents through proper training to deal with the various aspects of product design like functional design, industrial design etc. with a confidence to build a production level skill. The CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat (Assam) in collaboration with CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai (Tamilnadu) has established a Footwear Training cm Production Centre at Bamungaon, Tezpur of district Sonitpur, Assam under the HRD Mission of Govt. The centre is operated by District Industry and Commerce Centre (DICC), Tezpur of Department of Industry and Commerce (DIC), Govt of Assam. The technical as well as financial support for the establishment of the centre is obtained from the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai. CLRI, today, is a central hub in Indian leather sector with direct roles in education, research, training, testing, designing, forecasting, planning, social empowerment and leading in science and technology relating to leather.
