QCI-FDDI MoU 2026: Leather & Footwear Quality Boost

Source: PIB India, June 12, 2026 | Ministry of Commerce & Industry | QCI & FDDI

👟 What Happened — And Why Exporters Must Pay Attention

On June 12, 2026, the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) and the Quality Council of India (QCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve quality, testing, accreditation, and skilling throughout India's leather and footwear industry. This Memorandum of Understanding directly impacts your subsequent shipment if you export leather or footwear. They now require certified, quality-compliant leather and footwear. Indian exporters will lose business to compliant competitors if they do not have official labour certification or accreditation.

India's involvement is a fresh effort to strengthen leather trading relations with Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa—markets where Indian goods such processed food, cotton, tea, spices, and basmati rice have significant current demand but unrealised potential.

Key clusters to benefit: Agra, Bahadurgarh, Ranipet, Chennai, Calicut and Kanpur.

Which Clusters & Stakeholders Benefit from QCI-FDDI Partnership

Cluster	Key Product	QCI-FDDI Benefit	Priority
🏭 Agra	Casual Footwear, Sandals	Testing labs, Worker RPL Certification	Very High
🏭 Kanpur	Leather Goods, Industrial Footwear	Quality mgmt training, MSME awareness	Very High
🏭 Chennai	Formal Shoes, Export Footwear	Accreditation support, skilling programmes	High
🏭 Ranipet	Leather Tanning, Uppers	Lab calibration, sample collection centres	High
🏭 Calicut	Traditional Footwear, Artisan Leather	Semi-skilled worker RPL pathways	Medium
🏭 Bahadurgarh	Sports Footwear, Fabric Shoes	Multi-level assessment framework	Medium

📌 Key Point: Agra and Kanpur are the fastest-growing leather export destinations. This MoU will ease documentation and phytosanitary requirements for these corridors.

📋 What This MoU Actually Means For Your Factory

Your factory in Agra, Kanpur or Chennai will now be evaluated on 3 things — certified workers, accredited labs and quality management. Buyers will check all three before placing orders.

FDDI and QCI will conduct training right within your cluster. Your factory advances on the buyer's shortlist if your employees attend and receive certification. If not — you stay invisible. The initiative will focus on enhancing workforce skills, promoting personal certification, strengthening quality management practices, improving access to testing facilities and supporting laboratories in achieving accreditation.

QCI will offer technical advice on certification concepts, quality management systems, and relevant standards as part of the partnership. Along with helping to create collaborative monitoring frameworks, research studies, white papers, and case studies, it will also support MSMEs' awareness campaigns about quality, testing, accreditation, and relevant government programs.

FDDI will conduct cluster-specific training and skill development initiatives designed to meet the needs of various footwear hubs. Additionally, it will map testing and calibration facilities, find laboratory access gaps, assist in setting up sample collection facilities in underprivileged areas, and create information resources for industry stakeholders.

A multi-level worker evaluation and personal certification system, including Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) pathways for semi-skilled and experienced individuals with industry-relevant abilities but possibly no official educational degrees, is another goal of the MoU.

The MoU was signed by Secretary General, QCI, Shri Chakravarthy T. Kannan, and Managing Director, FDDI, Shri Vivek Sharma (IRS), on behalf of their respective organisations.

The partnership is expected to support the larger national goal of creating manufacturing ecosystems in Bharat that are globally competitive, quality-driven and future-ready manufacturing ecosystems in Bharat, particularly for MSMEs and workers engaged in the leather and footwear sector.

About QCI: The Quality Council of India (QCI) is a premier autonomous body established by the Government of India. QCI promotes a culture of quality across products, services and processes that impact citizens' lives. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, serves as the nodal department for QCI.

About FDDI: The Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, works in the areas of education, research, skill development, testing and certification for the leather and footwear sector.

✅ Verification Guide — Before Your First QCI-FDDI Compliant Shipment

Opportunities are created by the QCI-FDDI framework, but only exporters who are ready will profit. Due to incomplete registrations or missing paperwork, many Indian leather exporters lose orders at the final stage. Before approaching any buyer in Brazil, Russia, China, or South Africa, review all of the points below.

Area	What to Verify	Why It Matters	Status
IEC	Active and address updated	Customs won't process without valid IEC	☐
FDDI Registration	Cluster registration completed	Mandatory to access RPL and skilling benefits	☐
Worker RPL	Workers enrolled for assessment	EU/US buyer compliance requirement	☐
QCI / NABL	Lab accreditation applied or confirmed	Required for testing export samples	☐
HS Code	Confirmed for your exact product	Wrong HS Code = wrong duty = shipment held	☐
COO	Applied and matches invoice value	Required for preferential BRICS treatment	☐
Freight	Forwarder with leather route experience	Documentation errors common on new routes	☐
Payment	LC or advance confirmed in writing	Never ship without confirmed payment method	☐
ECGC	Export credit insurance taken	Protects against buyer default and political risk	☐

📌 Save this page. Go through every point before your first QCI-FDDI compliant shipment. Exporters who verify all 9 points pass buyer audits at first attempt.

Source: PIB India, June 12, 2026 | Ministry of Commerce & Industry | QCI & FDDI

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