Quality Council of India (QCI) and Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) sign MoU to enhance quality and skilling ecosystem across six key footwear clusters.

Key facts

• The Quality Council of India (QCI) and the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 12, 2026.
• The partnership aims to strengthen quality, testing, accreditation and skilling ecosystem in the leather and footwear sector, covering clusters including Agra, Bahadurgarh, Ranipet, Chennai, Calicut and Kanpur.
• The MoU envisages joint design and delivery of need-based programmes for workers, MSMEs, supervisors, industry professionals and other stakeholders across the leather and footwear value chain.
• Under the collaboration, QCI will provide technical guidance on accreditation principles and quality management systems, while FDDI will lead cluster-specific skilling and training programmes.
• The MoU includes a multi-level worker assessment and personal certification framework with Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) pathways for semi-skilled and experienced workers.