The leather desk at the Indian consulate at Milan in Italy is going to be operational by the year-end.
The desk will act as a bridge between Indian leather products units and tanneries and the famous Italian leather goods industry, facilitating joint ventures, technology transfers and outsourcing deals.
S S Kumar, chairman of the Council for Leather Export, said the leather desk would be first such sector specific initiative by the Union ministry of commerce.
"The CLE team is going to Italy next week to finalise the space within consulate and the logistics for the officer who will run the desk there," Kumar informed.
So far there have been three Indo-Italian joint ventures - two in the footwear sector and one in the tannery sector. All were in south India.
Italy is fourth largest importer of Indian leather items. It imported leather and goods worth $250 million last year and the trade volume was growing at over 10 per cent.
The Italian leather industry is considered one of the best in the world, but there still existed enough opportunities for Indian products in lower rung of the value chain.
"There is enormous opportunity for export to Italy in footwear and leather products segment that consists of bags and wallets. The leather desk is expected to familiarise the Indian competence resulting in more business," Kumar added.
Indian leather export stood at $2 billion last fiscal. This year, exports were expected to touch $2.3 billion.
Kumar pointed out there has been decline in export in raw hides, which indicated the industry was maturing.
"This indicates companies are moving up the value chain," Kumar said.