The shelterer's lament

The newer houses have brick red tiles. The older ones have tiles that have faded into a more sombre red.

But this landmark of Kerala could be fading into history. The state's 150-year-old clay roof tile industry is in dire straits.

During the last 15 years around 35 per cent of the tile factories downed shutters; another 30 per cent has diversified into related segments like ornamental tiles, hollow blocks, ceiling tiles, flooring tiles, pottery, crockery, stoneware pipes and insulation material. Of the remaining 35 per cent, not a single tile unit operates at full installed capacity.

According to Kerala Tile Manufacturers' Federation (KTMF) president D Anantha Subramanian, some 15 years ago the state had 427 roofing tile manufacturing units spread across 13 districts.

While 150 have closed, around 128 have diversified, leaving Kerala with only 257 tile manufacturing units "" and most of them operate only at 50 to 60 per cent of their installed capacity.

The Rs 90 crore clay tile industry is located around Thrissur, Kozhikode, Aluva and Kollam. Says Jose Chiravath, partner, Fathima Tiles: "While 75 of the 220 factories in Thrissur have closed down, 40 of the 43 in Kollam have downed their shutters. Similarly, of the 25 units that were located at Aluva, only 3 are functional now. And of the 30 units in the Feroke-Kozhikode area, 15 have shut down permanently."

Just how dramatic a turn of events these are is reflected by the fact that Kerala once had a near monopoly of terracotta clay roof tiles manufacture "" 90 per cent of the production was transported to other states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Then 10 years ago, Indian Railways hiked freight charges from Kerala by 300 per cent, leading to an increase in the price of Kerala tiles.

After that, lots of small tile manufacturing units sprouted in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and even in some of the north Indian states.

So why is the tile industry in trouble? Subramanian says that several factors have combined over the last two decades to push the indutry to the brink.

These include a shortage of clay, a scarcity of firewood and its increasing price, exorbitant power tariffs, competition from the concrete roofing and asbestos industries and low productivity and high wages.

The Centre's decision in March 2002 to impose a 4 per cent excise duty on clay roofing tiles was the last straw on the back of an aging camel, Subramanian adds.

Most clay tile factories find it difficult to obtain clay, the industry's basic raw material, largely because local people and environmental groups have been opposing clay mining, citing the environmental ban on it.

Indeed, Calicut Tile Manufacturers Association (CTMA) president A V Avarankutty Haji says that with stocks of clay running down, most factories can operate only for a few more months.

Environmentalists claim that clay mining leads to environmental degradation and makes land unfit for paddy cultivation.

But tile manufacturers retort that a committee appointed by the state government in 1997 found that clay was not responsible for agriculture land in the state shrinking from 8.3 lakh hectares in 1967 to 5.3 lakh hectares in 1994-95. Paddy could be grown on land where clay was mined, the committee pointed out.

Emphasising that clay mining would be difficult unless the Kerala Land Use Act was amended (this restricts paddy fields and agricultural land from being used for any other purpose, including for clay mining).

Haji says that the government has to spell out the areas where clay can be mined. Though an expert committee to suggest amendments to the KLU Act submitted a report in 1998, the state government has not taken any action on this.

Suitable amendments to the KLU would help enable clay to be mined without objections from the locals and from environmental groups, he says.

Secondly, clay tiles are now going out of fashion. They were used extensively by upper and middle class families while building houses, porches and cattle sheds.

Tiles were also used while constructing temples, churches, schools, railway stations and other government buildings.

Most of them have now switched to concrete roofing and asbestos. As a result, only the poor use clay tiles.

Thirdly, clay tiles are fired in energy-intensive kilns. But fuel wood is scarce and its cost has been soaring. Fuel costs alone account for almost 25 per cent of the cost of tile production.

Can the industry survive? It thinks it can, if the government throws it a lifeline. In 1998 a 12-member committee submitted detailed recommendations on reviving the industry.

Among other things, it suggested that the government should pass an order that tiles should be laid on the concrete roofs of all its double-storied buildings to keep roofs from leaking during the monsoon; that the sales tax on tiles should be cut from 4 per cent to 2 per cent and that housing for poor schemes compulsorily use tiles.

But the government is unlikely to oblige. Says a state industries department official: "As the industry moves from a protected, traditional industry toward a free-market regime, several key issues will emerge. One, how should manufacturers position themselves to compete with increasing competition? Two, how should they deal with the technological advancement taking place all around as well as the ever-changing tastes of consumers? All these issues have to be resolved at the management level. They should stop looking for government protection in this era of globalisation."