Incense stick market gets hotter in W Bengal

The incense stick market in West Bengal has just got hotter, with the entry of products from the Sri Aurobindo inspired institution at Pondicherry.

Kolkata has the largest market for sale of incense sticks or agarbattis by volume in the country at Rs Rs 150 crore or so, in the Rs 1,000 crore national agarbatti market. As a large portion of the market was still unorganised but conservative estimates complied for last fiscal indicated that incense stick sales were growing at 7-8 per cent per annum, according to Manob Tagore, manager of the cottage industries wing of Sri Aurobindo Udyog Trust (SAUT) of Pondicherry.

West Bengal had lagged far behind the rest of the country in terms of production capacity for incense sticks.

Cities like Bangalore had a much larger number of manufacturing units owing to to factors like lower cost of production, easier availability of binding powder and higher labour efficiency in packing and rolling functions. In recent years, big players like ITC had stepped into marketing of incense sticks.

The institution formally started marketing its products in Kolkata today and would to gradually extend its sales area to Orissa.

The Sri Aurobindo Seva Trust already had 50 women employees in Bengal making incense sticks, binding books and doing block printing.

The plan was to capitalise on the existing brand equity of Aurobindo sticks and make the products available at department stores, neighbourhood grocers, cottage industry and handicrafts fairs and even take up direct home selling in various districts of the state.

Tagore said the institution would train and employ the women in direct selling procedures and would look at a possible production facility in the city in future.

Tagore said there was enough room for everyone in the market and the presence of corporates would help make the sector more organised besides bringing in greater funds and leading to better research and product development.

According to conservative estimates, the share of the organised sector in the national market was still very small, and so there existed adequate scope for new and organised sector players in the market keeping in mind rising demand.

Marketing channels were a major bottleneck in the sector, Tagore admitted.

The segment continued to be dealer-driven, and therefore dealer selection played a major part in the success of the product.

The entry of corporates had failed to loosen the control of the dealer lobby.

"SAUT has been able to build a network of dealers interested in improving the lives of women whose livelihood depend on this venture", he said.

The institution employs around 250 women who make incense sticks by hand. The workers enjoyed benefits like provident fund, employee state insurance coverage and gratuity besides running a crèche for children.

Workers also received an annual bonus of 20 per cent.

Sales touched Rs 4 crore last fiscal, with some contribution from products like bath accessories, spa materials, robes and wooden products.

Exports at Rs 1.5 crore was part of total sales, which were expected to grow 10 per cent this fiscal.