Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Revenue not so crispy

Karthik Madhavan

LESS GAINS: Women engaged in making murukku. — Photo: M. Govarthan

Erode: The wooden sound from handlooms that once greeted a visitor to Vellankoil, a village about 35 km north of Erode, is now absent. What instead welcomes a visitor is a very pleasant smell in the air, which makes the mouth watery.

The reason for that appetite-inducing smell lies in the white smoke coming out of soot-coated chimneys in almost all the houses. As it dances down the air, the smoke enters the nostrils to bring before eyes the images of crispy murukku, spicy mixture and other delicious savouries. The smoke first came out four decades ago when a lull in handloom textile trade forced the villagers one after the other to sever their cord with the looms and plunge their hands into rice- daal flour to manufacture murukkus. "I remember working on looms in my youth. Slowly things changed in the village, and we too went in for murukku manufacturing," recalls V.R. Ganesan of Yali Brand savouries. Today, there are 100 families in the trade employing about 500 labourers.

But how come the entire village manufactures murukku? Mr. Ganesan says when the murukku wave started there were very few players and the market was good. Today, Vellankoil produces eatables worth nearly Rs. 20 lakh a month, catering to the markets in Salem, Karur, Namakkal, Tiruchengode and almost every town and village in Erode district. But all is not spicy and crispy with the trade. Though the volume of trade has increased, in actual terms it is not bringing the desired revenue.

"When I started 22 years ago, I sold savouries for Rs. 2,000 a week with about 25 per cent profit. Today I sell much more but for a less margin," points out A. Gautham, a manufacturer of 22 years. Then there is the price rise to grapple with. Until a few months ago, Mr. Gautham bought his raw materials for Rs. 50,000 a month, which he is now procuring at Rs. 59,000 without being able to transfer the price hike to his customers.

"Prior to price rise, I sold a packet of 10 murukkus for Rs. 8. After the hike I do the same. If I increase the price, my competitors are waiting in the wings." This apart, the shopkeepers delay their payment. Their efforts at forming a union or a cooperative body have not taken off.

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