Footwear firm goes eco friendly

GUWAHATI: Kolkata-based footwear company, Ajanta Shoes announced its plans to go environment-friendly, starting from making shoes with minimal use of leather, to three of its factories going solar by 2020, to focusing on rainwater harvesting. “We are immensely inspired by the Prime Minister’s vision on water conservation and renewable energy for which we have decided to go eco friendly,” Subrata Banik, chairman and managing director of Ajanta Group, told reporters here on Thursday. The 63-year-old firm, having five manufacturing units in West Bengal, is expanding its reach in the Northeast with an eye on increasing its market share from 9 per cent to 30 per cent in a year’s time. “Currently, we have 45 dealerships in the Northeast and the plan is to have more dealers in all the states, including Meghalaya,” an official of the company told The Shillong Times.