Moving toward completing four decades of its inception, Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is an institution of national importance. With 12 campuses across India, it is working with the objective of mainly developing Human Resources within the country by imparting appropriate knowledge and skills to promote the rapid growth of footwear and allied industries. Serving as MD, FDDI for last six years, Arun Kumar Sinha (IAS), a Chemical Engineer from IIT, Kharagpur and Masters in Public Policy and Management from London School of Economics and Political Science, has added significant value to FDDI with his dynamic and entrepreneurial acumen and focus on tech curriculum. Prior to joining FDDI, Arun served at the state level in various posts like Deputy Commissioner, Director Education, Sports and Tourism, Additional Secretary Health, Commissioner Excise, OSD (ADMIN) in India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO). In an exclusive interview with Apparel Resources (AR), he shares that due to sustainable aspects and changing preference of customers, the future of footwear is non-leather. He highlights how, with many initiatives, the institute is geared up to align with the changing market scenario and the need of the footwear industry.
AR: How FDDI has become instrumental in the growth of footwear industry in India and what are the major achievements of FDDI so far? What is FDDI doing to make the industry grow?
Arun: There are many steps FDDI has taken over the years besides working upon academics, testing and R&D; consulting; design and forecasting; and executing various projects of the Government of India. The industry is getting advantage of our centre which is a strong support structure for them. I am proud to say that so far, almost 9,000 students have passed out from FDDI and many of them are working across the globe in reputed positions. We have signed various MoUs with national and international organisations with regard to supporting each other on Cluster Development; Skill Development; Consultancy. On grass route level, FDDI has provided training to artisans in remote villages/ SMEs engaged in the leather sector. We use advanced technology to keep our students up-to-date.
AR: As the industry is mainly a small-scale one which is largely unorganised, do you see a shift towards a large segment going ahead? Where do your students get placed and get adjusted after coming out from a premier institute?
Arun: I am happy to inform that in the year 2021-22, our campus witnessed 230 recruiters and the highest package of Rs. 14 LPA was offered by Landmark International. Yes, our industry is mainly into MSMEs and there is scope of more pay for our students. I must say that if students work consistently in the initial days with the MSME sector, there are massive opportunities for them to grow and work with leading national and international manufacturers, brands and retailers. There are many such good examples also.
Driven by larger penetration into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and the growing rural market, various premium footwear brands are foraying into non-metro market which holds enormous growth potential for the overall footwear industry. Growing fitness consciousness is leading to rise of athleisure footwear in metros as well as smaller cities. All this will also increase job opportunities for professionals at various levels.
AR: The Union Government has notified the Indian Footwear and Leather Development Programme (IFLDP) with an outlay of Rs.1700 crore for implementation during 2021-26. But it is common perception that the Government doesn’t have a major thrust in the footwear segment. How do you see this and what more needs to be done for the industry?
Arun: It can’t be denied that the Government is committed to the growth and development of the footwear industry. In view of the potential which the leather and footwear sector holds, it has also been included among Champion Sectors’ in the category of manufacturing sectors under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). There are many schemes that cover the footwear sector and support regarding technology upgradation, besides fresh investments also supporting it to become green, sustainable. All these efforts are helping the footwear companies to become more competitive and increase their market share and to become more profitable.
In my opinion, to improve the growth rate, some industry clusters should be developed on the modern method of manufacturing technology which is supported with adequate skilled manpower. Design and Retail information must be regularly made available to footwear manufacturers to help them suitably address the season’s requirement. Besides this, Technology Upgradation; Market Access; Intellectual Property Rights and Patents; Incubators and Entrepreneurship Development; Quality Management Standards are needed.
PLI scheme is also needed for the footwear sector. Strengthening footwear value chain with focus on building component industry is the need of the hour and strategic interventions for promotion of component sector, institutional collaboration within the country shall provide capacity building in machine/tooling.
The design domain of India in comparison to developed nations is still behind, not only at the product level but also at the critical input level such as machine and tooling. FDDI has thrust on the same, and for innovative designs, our students have won international awards too.
AR: The thrust is also on start-ups. How do you encourage start-ups and so far how many good start-ups have come up with the support of FDDI?
Arun: Most of the beginners in our industry encounter challenges in the initial stage of their business and by the inputs provided by the guidance of FDDI’s Faculty, they have overcome those challenges and created a niche for themselves. To mention a few of our good start-ups, Dhanushika Ramesh and Jeffry Jacob ventured into a start-up Briller. Swati Mehrotra has grown to be an entrepreneur with her own label SWATIMODO bespoke shoes and a shoemaking academy to her credit. Abhishek Ranjan who found We source and Rohit Jadoun who is the Founder of Four Seasons have also been part of our institute. Niren Anand, Ever Trade India and Niren Anand India, Virendra Awal of Mochiko Shoes are some other such successful entrepreneurs.
Going forward, we plan to have more thrust on the start-up culture and motivate, support students with various steps like inviting budding start-ups as guest lecturers, offering infrastructure as incubation for students who wish to be part of a start-up.
AR: Technology is playing an important role in development. How FDDI has thrust upon technology, be it in course curriculum as well as in overall infrastructure?
Arun: To meet the cutting-edge technologies’ requirement, we have state-of-the-art infrastructure across all the levels such as additive manufacturing, Al application in design and data analysis, latest software and augmented reality application, digital enterprise. FDDI has already initiated the processes of Industry 4.0 application for footwear sector through Center of Excellence (CoE). We also have digital classroom facility and software like Adobe, Rhino, Tinkering studio etc.
The Government has sanctioned Rs. 129.62 crore to set up CoE at 7 campuses of FDDI in different areas such as non-leather footwear; high-performance footwear; specialised footwear; design studio. These centres will provide the much-needed R&D and address concerns of the industry in product development, centre for incubation and entrepreneurship.
We have adopted best practices like our working committees in curriculum revamping are composed of members from IIT; representatives of companies like Bata, Woodland and Reliance etc. We have redesigned the entire syllabus of B.Des programme and this is further augmented with the smart wearable technology and biomechanics and ergonomics.
Through all these, FDDI ensures that the student fulfils the industry expectation and we observe a seamless shift when our students start working in the industry.
We have connected more than 4500 alumni of FDDI and we make sure through formal, informal events, the existing students get some advantage of our Alumni’s learning and experience.
AR: There is a variety of raw material being used in sneakers. How do you see this scenario and what more development can be anticipated in this direction?
Arun: In footwear, the world is moving towards non-leather and that is also the future. The raw material segment will move towards embracing newer technology notably in chemicals, 3D printed material with specific applications such as polyamide, Nylon, TPU for specific purposes and technology-based knitted material for product application. In 3D and 4D printing, particularly use of SLA, FDM-compatible products based upon application will also have space. At the same time, materials with natural fibres will continue to have their presence when it comes to raw material.
As sneakers is a growing product category, we are also organising various workshops for the same.
