Relief to leather exporters: DGFT Enhances Ease of Doing Business

New Delhi, 30 May 2025

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry released a notification, that eliminates procedural restrictions applicable on export of value-added leather products. Exporters believe it will now ease of doing business for leather exporters. Since the Port restrictions have been removed, it will now allow export of finished leather, wet blue leather, and EI tanned leather from any port or Inland Container Depot (ICD).

Following this the requirement of mandatory testing and certification by Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) for export of finished leather, wet blue leather, crust leather, and EI tanned leather has also been removed to give impetus in ease of doing business. Notably, these exports were earlier restricted to specifically notified ports.

These requirements were initially established to monitor the export of value-added leather products and to differentiate them from raw leather and taxable goods. This major move by DGFT is expected to streamline export processes, reduce transaction costs and particularly benefit MSME exporters.