Agra, Sep 8 (IANS) India's first 'Joota Mandi' or shoe market has opened in this Taj city.

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Urban Development and Public Works Nasimmuddin Siddiqui inaugurated it Tuesday.

The Agra Development Authority spent Rs.21 crores to develop the exhibition-cum-training complex on a 6,870 sq metre plot, complete with a basement and three floors.

An official said it had 22 warehouses, an auditorium, an exhibition hall and 268 stalls or shop counters.

'It would now be possible for foreign buyers to see the wide range of leather shoe products manufactured in Agra and negotiate directly. Even smaller manufacturers can showcase their products,' the official said.

Agra is the biggest leather shoe manufacturing centre in India, with more than two lakh people directly involved in the production process.

'Shoes are manufactured in Agra according to designs approved and quality constantly monitored by national and international companies,' said Ved Gautam, a foreign exchange agent working in the shoe trade.