The All India Footwear Manufacturers and Retailers Association (AIFMRA) has urged the finance minister, Arun Jaitley to reduce the high excise duties imposed on non-leather footwear in the recent union budget.
In a memorandum submitted to Jaitley, the AIFMRA sought relief from high excise duty on non-leather footwear.
Rafique Malik, chairman, AIFMRA, thanked the finance minister for providing some relief to the footwear industry, but “It has been restricted to a very small segment of the sector.”
“Post the Budget, the rich man’s footwear made of leather will enjoy benefits of lower tax rate, whereas the common man using affordable non-leather footwear will have to pay more,” he said.
“The increase in effective excise duty will increase the excise tax on children shoes and sandals, school shoes, sandals and shoes for women and men and all sports shoes,” Malik observed.
The budget has proposed concessional duty on footwear made from leather uppers, which make up about 15 per cent of footwear sold in India and leather upper shoes sell on prices above Rs 2000.
Majority of the footwear today are produced from synthetic leather, PVC, PU & fabric uppers, which provide durable quality footwear at reasonable prices from Rs 500 to Rs 3000.
AIFMRA is seeking rationalisation of excise duty on all footwear and said that if the central excise duty on all footwear is rationalised, the industry has a potential to create about 4 million jobs.