UP plans leather zone at Kanpur

Uttar Pradesh will develop a special economic zone at Kanpur to cater mainly for the leathergoods industry. The move is a follow-up of the new industrial policy announced by chief minister Mayawati recently. This will be the fourth SEZ to be developed by the state. The Kanpur SEZ will be located at Jajmau Banthar Patti near Unnao district border. The state has felt the need to develop an SEZ at Kanpur in view of its huge forex potential. The country's leathergoods export is worth about Rs1,200 crore (US$247,000). The proposed SEZ, to be developed by the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation, will come up on a 1,000-acre plot, and the corporation has already pumped around Rs20 crore ($412,000) into the project. The process of land acquisition is already on. Selection of a consultancy firm for conducting a techno-economic feasibility study is likely to be completed within a month, Mayawati said.