Leather industry clusters
Topic: Manufacturing Industries of India: Location and Distribution · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Leather industry clusters are towns where many tanneries and leather-goods units work close together. A tannery treats raw animal hides so they become leather. Leather is an animal-based industry. It uses hides from India's large livestock population and relies on cheap labour. Its main problem is pollution: tannery waste contains chromium, a toxic metal, and this waste ends up in rivers.
Example
The main clusters are:
- Kanpur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh
- The Vellore belt of Tamil Nadu, which includes Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Ranipet
- Bantala in Kolkata
Chromium-laden waste from the tanneries pollutes the Ganga at Kanpur and the Palar river in Tamil Nadu.
Don't confuse with
- Agro-based industry: this uses crops as raw material, such as cotton or sugarcane. Leather uses animal products, so it is animal-based.