How Tamil Nadu Wooed Taiwan's Shoemakers

In the last few years, the state has become India's non-leather footwear capital. The inside story

- N. Madhavan

For P. Jayalakshmi, a native of V Kalathur village in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu, life seemed like a disaster till about 15 months ago. Her husband, a tailor, did not earn enough to run the family. They were dependent on their extended family, and that came at a cost. Her mother-in-law routinely ill-treated her, and not a day went by without a fight. In her mid-30s, she had given up all hope of a better life.

Early in 2024, Jayalakshmi got to know of a shoe factory coming up at Eraiyur, 10km away. The factory was looking for women workers. She applied, unsure if she could be recruited—Jayalakshmi had studied till the 9th standard and had no work experience. But the shoe factory welcomed her, giving her a vocational pathway she hadn't known of.

Today, Jayalakshmi handles raw material at JR One Kothari Footwear Pvt. Ltd, a contract manufacturer for the American footwear brand Crocs, earning ₹19,000 a month.

"My family is now financially independent; I get a lot of respect," she said, turning a tad emotional and recalling all the years of stress. Along with her financial fortunes, came a change in her mother-in-law's attitude. "She adores me these days," she added.

A. Jaya, also from V Kalathur, was shunned by her neighbours as she invariably ended up asking them for a loan every now and then. Being farm labourers, she and her husband barely managed to earn ₹15,000 a month, far less than the needs of her six-member family. She now works at JR One Kothari Footwear's canteen and earns ₹10,000 a month. Her neighbours, she said, now make eye contact with her and speak with more respect. A few of them even ask her for money.

The empowerment Jayalakshmi and Jaya feel is because of industrialization spreading to Tamil Nadu's hinterland—while the state is a manufacturing powerhouse, not all its districts have benefited. Today, electronics, automobile and textiles manufacturing are mostly concentrated around Chennai and Coimbatore.