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They saw it coming: Firecracker sales dipped by nearly 25% this Deepavali

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As a result of campaigns, highlighting the hazardous effects of firecrackers on health and environment, launched by school authorities across metros and other large cities, the sale of firecrackers plummeted by 20-25% this Deepavali, according to a recently-concluded Assocham survey.

“Many schools across urban India have taken an oath from their students, to discourage children from bursting crackers and enjoy a safe and an eco-friendly Deepavali, thereby doing their bit to save the planet,” observed the quick survey conducted by the Assocham Social Development Foundation (ASDF) over the past 25 days.

“Though there has been a rise of 10-15% in cracker prices, the decline in their demand is being majorly attributed to the growing awareness among children who have vowed to abide by their oaths to shun firecrackers,” said DS Rawat, secretary general of Assocham.

The ASDF team interacted with about 150 schools and 1,000 schoolchildren at the 15 prominent cities of Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Pune and Surat, to ascertain how schools are playing a significant role in discouraging children against bursting firecrackers. The survey was conducted between October 1 to 30. Most of the school authorities surveyed said they are carrying out various activities and campaigns to educate children about the ill-effects of crackers on health and environment through pictures and visuals. Majority of the schools said they conducted ‘oath ceremonies’ during the morning assembly prayers to dissuade children from using firecrackers.

The Assocham team also interacted with about 200 traders, retail and wholesale firecrackers’ dealers to ascertain the market scenario at the aforesaid locations. Most of the merchants attributed the drop in cracker sales to the rise in its prices. Many enthusiasts have slashed their budgets and this has lead to a lull in the business as sales have declined by about 25% year-on-year, one of them said.

“Crackers is the least important thing on the to-buy list of customers. Besides, the rising inflation has left lesser money in their hands to buy other important household stuff. Poor supply owing to strict enforcement of fire safety regulations, input price inflation, unabated rise in fuel prices leading to escalating transport charges, labour shortage, rising wages and other such factors are also hurting the growth prospects of firecracker industry,” said Rawat.

Growing environmental awareness and restrictions by the local administration, together with strict licensing norms, are other key factors that have collectively led to a gradual slump in the demand-sale of firecrackers during Deepavali over the years, complained many traders, who responded to the survey.

“There has been a considerable increase of at least 15% year-on-year in the cost of crackers.
Besides, many traders said if such a downtrend continues, they would quit the business from next year. In fact, many people quit this seasonal activity because of the constant slowdown in the business,” said a shopkeeper.

Most of the retailers operating throughout the year in the firecrackers trade expressed that they rely mostly on wedding season and other auspicious occasions to recover their investments.

Considering that the downfall of firecracker sales has been going on for past few years now, many shopkeepers said they had stocks left from last year and thus did not order any more crackers this year, found the survey.

Illegal imports of firecrackers from China are further hurting the profit margins of the industry. The domestic firecracker industry, which as per estimates is worth over Rs 1,500 crore, has been grappling for a few years now. The town of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu accounts for over 90% of fireworks produced in India, with over 9,000 units in both organised and unorganised sectors.

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