Footwear R&D Center in Bahadurgarh

Footwear R&D Center in Bahadurgarh

BAHADURGARH: (Jan 25, 13) To solve the skilled labour crisis in footwear industry, Bahadurgarh-based footwear unit owners plan to establish a research and development (R&D) centre at the Footwear Park in Bahadurgarh Industrial Estate, spread across 2 acres of land. The centre would become operational by March 2014 and would cost around Rs 15 crore -with Rs 10.5 crore coming from ministry of MSME and government of Haryana as subsidy.

Jitender Singh, AGM, HSIIDC, Bahadurgarh Industrial Estate said, "The HSIIDC has approved 2 acres of land for developing R&D Centre to aid the footwear industries based in Bahadurgarh and outside the city."

MONEY MATTERS

Raj Kumar Gupta, president, Footwear Park at Bahadurgarh and managing director of Action Shoes said, "The entire footwear industry in India is facing a skilled labour crunch. To fill this gap, we needed an R&D centre."

Elaborating further on the cost, he added, "We are getting a government subsidy of Rs 10.5 crore. While the cost of buying and installing machines - Rs 9 crore - would be borne by ministry of MSME, the construction cost (Rs 1.5 crore) would be borne by the government of Haryana. Industry players, who are members of our organisation, would pay the rest of the amount that is, Rs 4.5 crore."

WHAT'S ON OFFER

The centre would train around 10,000 workers every year and the courses offered in this centre would span from one week to one year, depending upon the need of the industry and requirement of the training for the applicants, informed Subhash Jagga, general secretary, Footwear Park, Bahadurgarh.

Asked about the course fee, Jagga, who is also a member of the Bahadurgah Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( BCCI) said, "The course fee would vary from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 depending upon the time frame of the course."

Jagga is optimistic about the centre. "Bahadurgarh is home to around 500 footwear units, which create direct job opportunities for around 50,000 people. Apart from this, there are about 1 lakh indirect jobs. So, the students of the R&D Centre would easily get a placement in the units."

REASON FOR R&D CENTRE

The proposed R&D centre will not be the only institute dedicated to footwear. Twenty five kms away in IMT Rohtak is the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI).

"The footwear park in Bahadurgarh will enjoy the benefits of various services offered by FDDI, including industrial consultancy in the field of design, productivity improvement, quality control, man and machine utilisation, inventory control etc.," said Rajeev J Lakhara, managing director, FDDI.

The 1992 batch Indian Revenue Service further added that the footwear industry based in and around Rohtak would reap the benefits of the research and development carried out at FDDI. The training of active industry professionals is one of the most pivotal services of the institute.

But Gupta opined that FDDI would have aided more had it been nearer to Bahadurgarh. To this, Jagga added: "The centre will train recruits which will help units inside and outside the Bahadurgarh Industrial Area."

WHAT NEXT

The units now await a 132 KVA power sub-station. "When it becomes operational, there will be ample power supply for the 375 units in Bahadurgarh Footwear Park," said Subhash Jagga. The units include, footwear giants such as, Action Shoes, Lakhani, RelaxoBSE -0.18 %, Lancer Shoes, Welcome, Diamond, etc.

Once operational, the park would become 100 percent production efficient. "On an average, one unit does business worth Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore per annum. The figure can head further north, once the power sub-station becomes 100 percent operational," said Jagga.

Jitender Singh of HSIIDC informed that the substation would become operational by the end of March this year.