Footwear industry in India, over the last few years, has seen a change in perception from a basic need based consumption to a fashion and style consumption driven largely by rise in income levels, higher disposable income, growing fashion consciousness, and increasing discretionary spending.
According to a 2015 report by ICRA research services, India is the second largest global producer of footwear after China, accounting for 9 per cent of the global annual production of 22 billion pair as compared to China’s share of more than 60 per cent.
Read: Stepping into a bigger, better future: A report on India’s footwear market
The country annually produces 2.1 billion pairs of which 90 per cent are consumed internally while remaining are exported primarily to European nations which include United Kingdom, Germany, USA, Italy and France, as per market analysts.
This annual footwear consumption of 2.1 billion pair is the third largest globally after China and USA and has recorded a healthy growth over the past decade.
However, even after this clear spike in numbers, the average per capita footwear consumption in India continues to be low at ~1.66 pair per annum in comparison to the global average consumption of ~3 pair per annum and developed countries average of 6-7 pair per annum.
The majority of it is also contributed to a fact that, the footwear industry is highly fragmented in India with almost 15000 small and medium enterprises operating largely in the unorganized segment; and limited presence of organized segment.The competitive intensity is high between the two segments and currently, both are estimated to have an equal share of the overall domestic market in value terms.
Nevertheless, with increasing brand consciousness amongst Indian consumers, influx of large number of global brands and increasing penetration in Tier – II and III cities by the organized footwear companies, organised players’ market share has made significant gains in the recent past and it continues to be on an uptrend.
In the following slides, Images Business of Fashion profiles a few of the most promising footwear brands of the country that are in process of organizing this unorganized market by their offerings and expansion plans…