The Hindu Business Line : `Handmade match units are becoming sick'

BIG mechanised match manufacturing units and the increasing cost of raw materials are forcing hundreds of handmade match industries to turn sick in Tuticorin and Virudhunagar districts.

The labour-intensive industry has been the major provider of employment in large parts of drought-prone areas in the two districts. They had lucrative markets earlier in the North and north-eastern States in the country. The advent of mechanisation has reportedly made about 4,000 units sick, forcing about 50,000 workers out of employment.

The production from the majority of mechanised units in the region are being procured by a conglomerate and sold in other parts of the country at a much cheaper price, forcing the non-mechanised cottage units out of the market, says the Secretary of the All-India Federation of Cottage Manufacturers Association in Virudhunagar district, Mr Palani Kumar, a match manufacturer from Sattur in the district. Except a few mechanised units, a good number evade payment of excise duty of 12 per cent, producing fake certificates, he alleged.

Another match manufacturer from the district, Mr Rajasekaran is sceptical about the legal status of the mechanised match units, as no licence has been issued to start such units in the region, as confirmed by the present Union Minister of State for Industries in his letter to Mr Vaiko, MDMK General-Secretary.

According to Mr K. Seenivasan, Convenor, Match Industries Protection Forum, Kovilpatti, the market price of the matches from the mechanised units are lower, as they are not required to pay for bundling the matches. But this is a burden, adding to costs, in the case of manufacturers of handmade matches.

The increasing raw material cost is also adding to their woes. The raw material should be supplied to these units through SIDCO at a nominal cost by the State Government, he said. He also suggested that matches produced by big mechanised companies should not be allowed to be sold in the domestic market.

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