Small Scale Tannery

Small Scale Tannery


Tannery - Leather Processing Unit: Starting a tannery or leather processing unit is a lucrative business in India. Mainly, a tannery is a hide and skin processing unit that produce quality finished leathers. Leather products manufacturing companies are the major consumer of finished leather.

Hide and skins are the major byproduct of the meat processing centers. Large animals are said to have “hides” (e.g. cowhide, buffalo hide) and smaller animals are said to have “skins” (e.g. goat skin,sheep skin).

Most of the world output of leather is produced from cattle hides, goatskins and sheepskins. Hides and skins undergo a number of processing stages before a final product called finished leather is reached. According to your investment capacity and the raw material availability, you can initiate a tanning unit anywhere in the country.


Tannery Market Potential: Tannery: Generally, the growth of the tannery business depends on the increasing demand for the finished leather. Demand for the finished leather is increasing not only in the domestic market but also in the international market.

Availability of cheap labor, availability of good quality of hides and skins are the major reasons for the extensive growth of the leather industry. Introduction of chrome tanning process and technical assistance from Central Leather Research Institute are boosting the growth.

Tannery Business Compliances: Tannery or leather processing business demands different types of registrations and licenses from the Govt. authority. However, it also depends on the mode of operation. Here, we put some of the basic requirements.


Apply for the MSME Udyog Aadhaar online registration.
Apply for Trade License from the local Municipal authority.

Permission from the Pollution Control Board. Leather processing unit produces both solid and liquid waste. You must have an Effluent Treatment Plant to reduce the pollution. Check the tax liabilities. Mainly, you will need to get the registration of P.Tax, TIN number, and VAT.

Tannery Setup & Machinery: Location selection is the most important factor. Start the tannery in an industrial zone. Small scale tannery demands an area of 5000 Sq Ft built up area. You must have the extra open sky premises within the unit.

Check the transportation facility and the availability of the skilled labors. Electricity and water source are the major concern in establishing the leather processing unit. You may need to arrange a ground water supply arrangement for your factory.


Tannery Machinery: Advisable to start the unit as a fully-automatic basis. Procure the total plant from a reputed machinery manufacturer. Here we put a list of some basic requirements.

Drum with 6HP motor shaft pulley.
Electrical Unit Heater for Stuffing Drum 6HP.
Shaving Machine – single width.
Electrical Hand Operated Setting Out Machine.
Hydraulic Press. Spraying Machine with Dryer. Lace Cutting Machine.
Brushing Machine with Dryer. Miscellaneous other equipment.

Finished Leather Manufacturing Technology:

Step I: Procure the wet blue skins from other plants. You can also procure raw hides and skins. After procuring, you have to classify the skin.
Step II: Re-tanning: Involves re-treatment of wet blue skins, which are placed in drums.
Step III: Pre-finishing: In this section, skins are “horsed up” (i.e., racked for a period of time set out), color dyed, stretched, dried using hot air, and then ironed.


Step IV: Finishing: Involves classification and cutting (including sorting and trimming), spraying, and final conditioning. It includes staking, buffing, and milling. The latter operations are all carried out “dry”.

Raw Materials For Tannery: Major required raw material is Wet Blue Hides. You have to procure Lacquer emulsions, Sodium bicarbonate, Sodium acetate, Formaldehyde and Dyes (different colors).

Hire employees for the operation. Hire the employees in the top level administration very carefully. A production manager and one finance head are the musts. You can plan according to the size the output of your tannery.


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