The granite and black slab polishing industry, which provides employment to around 15,000 people in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh — the single largest employment generator in the district — is in doldrums with more than 65 per cent of polishing units shutting shop.
The granite and black slab polishing units, which are concentrated around Tadipatri town, numbering around 470 and 1,600 units respectively, have been under stress as the royalty imposed by the State government increased, while the demand slowed down due to better prices being offered by polishing units in Telangana on account of industry friendly policies in that State.
According to a senior official of the Southern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited (APSPDCL), the demand for electricity from the polishing industries has come down by close to 60 per cent in the last few months alone.
“The bill from these polishing units has been around Rs. 8.5 crore a month usually over the last few years. The payments from these units also used to be close to 99 per cent. However, the bill for the last month is around Rs. 3.5 crore and the payment around 85 per cent,” said the official, who sought to remain anonymous.
The industry remains the single largest employer of people from within the district, employing 15,000 people directly and almost an equal number indirectly.
“We used to earn a meagre Rs. 5 per square foot of granite slab earlier when the raw material cost was around Rs. 2,200 for most coloured granite, while black colour was around Rs. 2,600. Today, the cost of raw material has gone up to Rs. 2,600 for other colours while black granite has gone up to almost RS. 3,600,” said Ramgopal Reddy, owner of a granite cutting and polishing unit in Tadipatri.
He adds that while the raw material price has increased, the price of the finished product has gone down by around Rs. 10 per square foot, putting them into a loss of around Rs. 10 per sq ft.
“It’s as if the entire apparatus of the State is bent at finishing off the industry. While the Telangana government has given very encouraging incentives to the slab polishing units, our government has actually increased the royalty and taxes by around 300 per cent. Now it is adding a further 47.5 per cent royalty on mining of granite under the District Mineral Development Fund. This will further increase the raw material cost and means further losses,” argues, B Jagadeeshwar Reddy, president of the Tadipatri Granite Factory Owners Association and secretary of the AP Small Industries Granite Factory Owners Association.
He says that the polishing units across the State had no option but to go on a strike to draw the government’s attention to its demands of incentivising the industry on the lines of what is being done in Telangana, or allow them to close down operations.
