How big is the European shoe market?
It is about $12 billion in terms of import. India exports about $300 million worth of shoes, which is a small percent. This is going to grow significantly. Majority of shoes going into Europe are of the lower segment – sports footwear, synthetic footwear, etc. Now, you will see an increase in activities in the leather footwear side from India. The shift in manufacturing has already taking place, and the place is India. Forward Shoes is a Rs 100 crore company. How much do you expect to grow now that the European shoe companies are turning to you for outsourcing? We expect additional revenue of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in the next 2 years. The industry has set itself a target to grow by about 5 times in the next five years. Currently, they are doing about $300 million exports to Europe. By the year 2008, we want that to be $1.5 billion. How do the Europeans and European companies in general look at anything that is manufactured in India? The tag ‘Made in India’ had a stigma. I will a
