India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) organised the 26th edition of India International Leather Fair (IILF) in Chennai from January 31 to February 3, 2011. The fair was organised in close collaboration with Council for Leather Exports (CLE), Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Indian Shoe Federation (ISF) and Indian Finished Leather Manufacturers Association (IFLMEA).

Shri Virbhadra Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India, inaugurated the Fair on 31St January, 2011. After the inaugural ceremony, he honoured the top exporters in recognition of their excellent exports performance and distributed Annual Export awards instituted by CLE. The fair was open to business visitors from February 01-03, 2011.

The 26th edition held this year was the largest in terms of size and level of participation since 2000. IILF 2011 covered a net area of over 9098 sq.mtr. There were 410 exhibitors including 129 from 20 overseas countries. Overseas participation was quite significant with group participation from Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Thailand. Beside the group participation the overseas companies from other countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Turkey, UAE & UK also participated. The domestic participants were 281. The size of the participation this year was about 10% more than that of last year. IILF maintained its lead position providing a vital platform for buyers and sellers alike in the leather and leather related segment.

A comprehensive range of products and services relating to leather industry – Finished Leather, Leather Garments, Leather Goods, Footwear, Footwear Components, Machinery, Chemicals, Fashion Accessories, Publications, etc. were on display at the Fair.

About 20,000 business visitors including a large number of overseas buyers visited the fair. There were over 1600 overseas business visitors registered at the Fair. The visitors were from a host of countries like Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States etc.

A daily newsletter “IILF Happenings” was also brought out on the days of the fair giving salient features and important happenings. The newsletters were well received by exhibitors and business visitors.

The brief overview of IILF'2011 is given below:

• As per feedback from exhibitors, the business generated during the fair is likely to be about US$ 284.4 million. Two Joint Ventures were entered and 9384 trade enquiries were generated. In addition, there were 630 distributorships obtained by Indian participants during the fair.
• Almost all of the participants affirmed that they would participate in IILF 2012.
• About 93.04% of the participants indicated that their participation in the fair was cost effective. This indicates the high level of satisfaction with the business, visitor turnover and facilities at the fair.