New Delhi, May 5: A scientist who helped clean up the nation’s leather sector and put India on the international leather fashion map is expected to take over as the country’s new science and technology secretary.

A selection panel has picked Thirumalachari Ramasami, director of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Chennai, to succeed Valangiman Ramamurthy who has just retired after 12 years at the helm of science affairs, sources said. Ramamurthy is a nuclear physicist.

As CLRI director, Ramasami, 58, had helped deliver cleaner technology options to leather industries, developed a relocation plan for Calcutta’s 580 tanneries and led India’s initiative in forecasting colours for the global leather fashion world.

Until the mid-1990s, India was not a major player in the international leather fashion scene. Ramasami put together a team for “fashion forecasting” ? picking the colours of leather for the global market 12 to 18 months in advance.

“India’s share of leather colours has gone up ? it’s now 70 to 100 per cent,” said Ramasami.

India is preparing a leather “shade card” for the world. And next January, an international jury will meet in Chennai to pick colours for 2008.

Trained in leather technology and chemistry, Ramasami has also been involved in a project to replace several polluting chemicals used in leather processing with biological alternatives. “Science and technology research is contributing to economic growth. We need to quantify this contribution and find ways to increase it,” Ramasami said.