The Indian government is considering a series of tax incentives to help the leather sector boost manufacturing and exports under the 'Make in India' initiative. As previously reported by ILM, the Government is aiming to increase exports to from US$6 billion to US$15 billion by 2020, and the leather and leather goods sectors are being considered as focus areas under the Make in India programme. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is said to have submitted several recommendations for the fiscal 2017 budget, including the elimination of customs duty on imported leather machinery as well as duty reduction for all leather and non-leather goods. Rafeeq Ahmed, Chairman of the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) outlined the importance of these tax incentives to the leather sector. "The sector has big expansion plans and nearly 95% of the machinery used in tanning and footwear is imported", he said. Currently, an excise duty of 12.5% is given on footwear. India's merchandise exports contracted for the 13th consecutive time in December 2015, dropping 14.75% to US$22.2 billion. India's Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, is to unveil the budget on February 29, 2016.