The boot is on other foot for this shoe-making hub

Hundreds of iron-sheet roofed ground plus one structures in the densely populated suburb of Thakkar Bappa Nagar in Kurla in central Mumbai stand empty.

Till a year back, these hutments not only had families to live but also were workshops for one of the largest shoe-making hubs in western India.

The consequent fall of business by over 50% due to the impact of demonetization has left many of them jobless and forced them to move back to their native places.

According to an estimate, there are around 8,000-9,000 shoe making units in two areas. These units, which supply shoes to entire country, are an important sourcing market for the branded companies and give employment to at least two lakh people, most of them from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and interior Maharashtra.

They are daily wage earners pocketing Rs 120-200 per day. Also, there are around 400 wholesalers in the market.

The area was initially a huge refugee camp set up for immigrants of Kutchi people from Pakistan in 1950s. However, later migration, mainly of certain communities from Rajasthan who were into manufacturing of footwear, slowly changed the demographics. The industry was set up in the 1970s by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to create job opportunities for the emigrants.

The traders blamed the entire "mess" on demonetization on November 8.

The reason being the entire transactions are mostly unorganised, and therefore cash-based, with everyone from owner of the workshops or wholesales shops to daily wage earners dealing in cash.

"We were not affected immediately after the currency ban as people transacted on the cash money they had instead of depositing it in banks and a consequence the business remained in cycle. However, its effects have begun to show in the past recent months with revenue coming down by more than 50%," said Suresh Parmar (name changed), a wholesaler operating from the area.

Parmar initially refused to talk when DNA Money visited his office, but relented later on the condition of not being named fearing repercussion from the tax authorities. " I have never seen such a slowdown ever since the time I first entered the business more than 25 years ago" he said.

According to Chandrakan Devare who has been working at one of the bigger shoe making unit in the area said that the many of the businesses have shut in the area due to lack of sufficient orders. As a result of this tectonic shift, hundreds of the hutments in the area are now vacant as people involved in the trade are not able to even afford the rent which ranges anywhere from Rs 3,000-Rs 15,000 depending upon the size and condition of the unit. Most of these units are run by families who double up as labourers.

"Hundreds of such hutments have become empty in past few months," said Devare.

The traders say that the situation is slightly better in Nagpada hub in South Mumbai as the workshops there cater mainly to organised markets and brands and therefore the transaction to a considerable extent happen through legal banking system.

According to an estimate by Council for Footwear, Leather and Accessories (CFLA), a sectorial association body, India is the second largest producer of footwear globally, accounting for 13 per cent of the global footwear production, next to China, which dominates the global footwear industry accounting for close to 67%of the market. The industry is dominated by unorganized sector which accounts for around 85 per cent of the total footwear production.

As per CFLA, footwear sector has the potential to grow up to $80 billion, or eight times its present size, by 2030. This can translate into a source of livelihood for more than 3 million people.