The Cottage industry engaged in the manufacturing of match boxes situated primarily in Sivakasi and the surrounding areas of Tamil Nadu, are gradually slipping into darkness. It is an irony that these industries which have been supplying match boxes to enlighten the houses in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in India are facing the stark reality of closure, due to a heavy financial losses suffered by them.
The industries which have been hitherto manufacturing match boxes are switching over to other businesses. Every year throughout India nine crore bundles of match boxes are being sold out. Each bundle consists of six hundred match boxes and each match box consists of 50 match sticks.
Hand-made match boxes are fully exempted from tax, whereas machine-made match boxes are subject to 12 % excise duty. Out of the total stock of match boxes sold out throughout India, 75 % stock has been manufactured in Tamil Nadu. Sivakasi and its surrounding areas are primarily engaged in the manufacture of match boxes.
The Industry manufacturing match boxes incurred a loss of 55 crores rupees last year and in the current year the loss may even exceed 90 crores of rupees. Due to the shortage of man power, wage rise, escalation of the price of raw materials, the industry is facing a financial crisis. For the last ten years the price of match box remains constant, 50 p apiece.
For the reasons stated above, considerable number of employees from the Industry have been retrenched. Some factories have been closed. Some other factories have been converted into textile mills, to manufacture crackers and into printing presses. The factories which stick on to manufacturing match boxes are facing a heavy crisis.
Some Industries which are manufacturing match boxes through machines, in order to escape from excise duty, send the match boxes for packing to the factories which are manufacturing match boxes manually and in the process they also face a heavy risk of paying a hefty fine to the excise inspectors.
The price of the man-made match boxes cannot be hiked in order to compete with the match boxes manufactured through machineries.
Thus in a few years we may not be able to use match boxes altogether and perhaps we can see a match box only in an exhibition.
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