Leather Sector Skill Council launches India Skills 2021 Regional Competition (South) at Chennai

Chennai 07 December 2021: The Indian Leather, Footwear and Leather products industry is known for its consistency in high export earnings, and it is amongst the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country. The industry is an employment intensive sector that requires a highly skilled workforce, providing employment to around 4.42 million people, mostly from the economically weaker sections of the society, from the rural areas. 

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India is the second largest exporter of leather garments, third largest exporter of Saddlery & Harness and fourth largest exporter of leather goods in the world. The industry predominantly employs women in the leather products sector. About 30% of the workforce comprises women who are engaged in the production of  products that involves intricate designs, precision skills and high quality of finished products for the export and domestic market.

(L to R) K.Murali, Director, CFTI,Chennai, Rajesh Rathnam, CEO, LSSC ; Ms. Innocent Divya, IAS, MD, TNSDC; R. Selvam, ED, CLE; Dr. K. J. Sriram, Director, CSIR-CLRi,Chennai

India Skills competition is the countrys largest skill competition organized by the National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC) under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) supported by the state governments, industry, and sector skill councils. 

The competition is designed to demonstrate the highest standards of Skilling and young participants get a platform to showcase their skills and passion across 54 skill categories, at a national and international level, competing with the best talent in their skill category. The winners of the India Skills competition get an opportunity to participate in the World Skills competition, known as the Olympics of Skills.

The Leather sector skill council through its persistent efforts over the years made a strong case to include leather products as a skill category at the India Skills Competition with the objective of providing a platform for the young students pursuing programs in leather products through various institutions to showcase their talent to the nation and the world, to motivate more youth to choose careers in the leather, footwear and allied products sector, to create the much needed highly skilled workforce that is required by the industry to become a powerhouse of exports by utilizing the amply available material and human resources in the country.

The efforts of the Leather Sector Skill Council under the able guidance of its Chairman Shri.P.R.Aqeel Ahmed and Chief Executive Officer Shri. Rajesh Rathnam has resulted in including Leather products as a demo trade category at the India Skills Competition 2021 edition, with support from the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) and Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI). This is the first step towards getting skill trades in the leather products sector featured as a regular trade at the future India Skills Competition and World Skills Competition that is conducted once every two years.

The regional competition of India Skills 2021 in Leather Products  for south India was inaugurated on 6th December 2021 at the Central Footwear Training  Institute (CFTI) campus at Chennai by its director Shri. K. Murali. The competition for South India ended today 7th December on a high note with the participants clearly motivated by the inspiring speech of the Chief Guest Smt. Innocent Divya IAS, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation, guests of honour Shri. R.Selvam IAS, Executive Director Council for Leather Exports (CLE) and Shri. Dr.K.J. Sreeram Director, Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI). The participants were awarded certificates in recognition of their efforts to display their talent amongst intense competition at the national level. 

The regional competitionsfor North, West and East regions are scheduled from 8th December to 10th December 2021 culminating in choosing the participants who would represent the leather sector at the India Skills Competition 2021 scheduled to be held at New Delhi in January 2022.

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