It's Diwali time and that of course means firecrackers. Everybody wants to make money on those who are willing to splurge on firecrackers. The amazing thing is that firecrackers are available throughout the year, but during Diwali the demand for it goes up (in the absence of a sufficiently turbocharged word) like crazy. Prices also, typically go up with the demand. (Interesting question: Does anyone know how firecrackers came to be associated with Diwali?)
Don't you forget the Elephant and blind man story?
This year, prices seem to be substantially higher - and there is a "fair price" element in them. The bigger brands sport a "no child labour" sticker on them. (Not sure if this was prevalent before). Interestingly, even all products from a manufacturer do not necessarily carry this label. Even i believe this is gossip and its of no use. The place like sivakasi, where all the firecrackers are getting ready, many people (who self think) don’t know what’s happening there? Many a times i found people ‘simply’ talking just for the sake of talking, they simply comment about that – it’s just commenting about Elephant being a blind man trivia!!
Do you know about Sivakasi?
The town is famous all over India for its fireworks factories. There are at least 300 manufacturers based in the city but that number blooms during Diwali. Many of these factories (mostly small-scale and unorganized sector) only exist during the festival season and then vanish for the rest of the year. The town is also known for its powerful printing industry and match-making industries, along with an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. It was given the nickname "Kutty Japan" ('Mini Japan' in Tamil) by Jawaharlal Nehru. Today it contribute 80% of India's total safety matches production, 90% of India's total fireworks production, and 60% of India's total offset printing solutions. It is the highest Sales/Excise/Customs Duty paying towns even Mumbai, Delhi lags far behind it, and has achieved 100% employment (can you tell me a city apart from this (Sivakasi) and Tirupur where we the situation like this throughout the whole country.
Moreover in reality where the country like India, where we don’t know to give importance to the basic needs (those who got this there is no need to comment on this, because you don't know how to help others !!), providing free education (my indian dream, cheers), human survival, uplifiting poverty – these words just lies in the newspaper headlines, books and in cosmopolitan bashing talks; so stop your bakwas (bullshit), buy and play crackers (which can give some money and cheers on their life).
Diwali crackers cracks the reality: Bangalore Vs Hosur
But this is about something called firecracker arbitrage in Bangalore. (It is a serious source of income for many college youth in Bombay - exploiting the difference between wholesale and retail prices - I will leave that for a different post.). So, if you buy firecrackers in Tamil Nadu (a short ride away from Bangalore), you get a, hold your breath - 85% discount on the MRP. Many families pool together and get a car load of crackers and save money despite spending some on the petrol. So, those who sell in Bangalore, atleast some of them, offer a 60% discount (or more, but always less than the 85% in Hosur - since presumably, thats where they source from). Customers are happy getting a 60% discount, obviously, so are the sellers. So, in any case you can make 25% by buying crackers in Hosur and selling it in Bangalore .
Which leads me to a few thoughts.
If you have paid the MRP on any firecracker, you have been ripped off considerably, especially since the MRPs seem to be outrageous - I did hear that prices would be higher this year, but they are really crazy. (For instance, a box of 10, small, zameen chakkars, are marked at 170 rupees).
Once you factor the discount, the prices seem saner. So, why not put in the actual prices upfront?
If the dealer gives an 85% discount (you pay 15 rupees for an item thats marked as 100 rupees, so the above mentioned zameen chakkar would cost you just about 25 odd rupees) , how much money does he make? How much money does the factory make? So, what is the actual mark up?
Why is the mark up so much in crackers? Any ideas? Is it because people like Diwali discounts? Any other products that have outrageous mark ups or do all products have huge mark ups? (I had heard shirts have a 100% mark up at the dealers and at the factory level.)
It's time up dude!!
Fine, it's time to celebrate Diwali.
Many of us don't know what the festive's are meant for? For me, festivals are a reflection of social lifestyles. Give some thing what you can or deserve or have to others, up to your limits!! Unless how you earn or keep it for self or family, won't help you to make joy, even in most of modern times, you may be pushed to safe 'old-age homes' by your so called loved ones - common predators (now i believe why the survival of the fittest term exists) !!
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