agra shutting down of illegal slaughterhouses in the state will prove a positive development for agras footwear export industry said those who are associated with it the crackdown will have a positive impact on indias and this regions image with regard to animal rights in western countries said industry insiderspuran dawar regional chairman north of council for leather exports cle also president of agra footwear manufacturers and exporters chamber afmec said that many international brands from uk us and germany have in the past refused to buy products from agra owing to negative publicity by animal rights groups over illtreatment of animals at slaughterhouseswith such illegal abattoirs out of uttar pradesh we will be able to market our products in these countries in a better manner dawar addedagra is the largest footwear manufacturing hub in india contributing around 65 of the total domestic consumption as well as having a whopping 28 share of the total footwear export from the countryof the leather used by units here 90 is sourced from the different leather production centres across the country mainly from kanpur and chennai while the rest is imported according to industry experts 2 lakh pairs of footwear are manufactured per day in agra even as the installed capacity of the producing units is around 25 lakh to 3 lakh pairs per day the sudden closure of slaughterhouses has affected the supply of leather but it is a temporary phase in the long run this decision will only help in improve the image of indias leather industry in the global market till now india has been accused by many international animal rights groups of allowing inhuman treatment of animals by not taking action against illegal abattoirs because of this many international brands from the us uk and germany have completely stopped giving manufacturing orders to indian firms dawar saidwe have 25 of the cattle population of the world but we are still struggling with poor quality of hides as a large number of animals are slaughtered in an unscientific manner and are in poor condition the problem of poor quality hides is always faced by the industry the afmec president addedaccording to the cle there are only 60 units which are fully mechanised and 150 others in semi mechanised category with the state of the art manufacturing facility using the latest technology and worldclass raw materialsaccording to a rough estimate there are 5000 units involved in shoe manufacturing in agra although it is difficult to put a finger on the exact number as most of them are being operated from households located in dingy lanes of heeng ki mandi mantola and surrounding areasthis is a good time for brand india now not only slaughterhouses but also tanneries will have to improve their facilities and buy animal skins from legal sources they will also have to install effluent treatment plants and ensure proper disposal of wastes it will definitely improve the quality and credibility of indian products in the international markets said