Cracker units hope for bumper Deepavali sales

S Ganesan Panchurajan, president, Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association (TANFAMA), said with the advent of modern technology, innovations in the industry continued despite COVID as 40 new items have been introduced this year. 

In a positive frame of mind, the industry stakeholders are expecting support from seven states, from which the cracker sale remains banned since last year, for a favorable outcome to ease such restrictions this year. 

The manufacturers have abided by the Supreme Court order by sticking to a strict concept of making green crackers. To go with the green concept, a green fireworks research laboratory, for which a site is ready for establishment, is all set to come up at Sivakasi at a cost of Rs 15 crore, soon. The traditional fireworks industry, which provides livelihood support to eight lakh people, constituting 55 per cent of women in the workforce, in Virudhunagar district, needs to be safeguarded and nurtured. More importantly, he said nearly 1.5 crore people, including stakeholders and vendors have been relying on this industry, the TANFAMA president told DT Next on Sunday. 

Last year, cracker curbs effected in some states just a few days ahead of Deepavali, dealt a sudden jolt to the industry and ultimately resulted in a backlog of finished goods. Hence, production suffered a drastic fall of about 50 per cent this year, sources said. 

According to T Kannan, general secretary, The Indian Fireworks Manufacturers Association (TIFMA), the increase in price of raw materials by 35 to 40 per cent, forced the manufacturers to have a marginal increase in prices. 

A Asaithambi, former president, TANFAMA, said there’s a good export potential for crackers several years ago, but it got disrupted owing to various reasons. Exports could be revived as it would be a promising source of foreign exchange revenue.