New Delhi : The government on Friday approved a Rs 2,600 crore special package for employment generation in the leather and footwear sectors, which has the potential to generate 3.24 lakh new jobs in three years and assist in the formalisation of two lakh jobs.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital. The package involves the implementation of a central scheme — ‘Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme’ with an approved capital expenditure of Rs 2,600 crore over three financial years, starting from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
“The scheme would lead to the development of infrastructure for the leather sector, address environment concerns specific to the leather sector, facilitate additional investments, employment generation and increase in production. Enhanced tax incentive would attract large scale investments in the sector, [and] reforms in labour laws in view of [the] seasonal nature of the sector will support economies of scale,” according to a government statement.
The special package also includes measures for simplification of labour laws and incentives for employment generation. These include enhancing the scope of Section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Act for providing a deduction to an Indian company engaged in the manufacture of goods in a factory towards additional wages paid for three years to new workmen. Moreover, the provisions of a minimum 240 days employment in a year to a workman under Section 80JJAA would be further relaxed to 150 days for the footwear, leather and accessories sector considering the seasonal nature of this industry.
The special package, announced on Friday, also includes the introduction of fixed term employment, the official statement added.
