Chennai: Even though the lanes of Parry's corner in Chennai are buzzing with crackers shops, traders say that there is a decline in the sales by 30 per cent.
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 'We received bulk orders in the month of March, but as GST was implemented from June, we didn't push it to customers as 28 per cent of tax means no profit for us,” said a wholesale dealer.
According to informed city police sources, temporary licenses obtained by shop owners to sell crackers have dwindled this season.

“There are no visible roadside cracker shops in Central Chennai due to stringent monitoring and in general shop keepers who last year came to the station to furnish details of cracker stocks are also missing this year,” said a police inspector. Another major reason for the dip in cracker sales is the economic slowdown. “Economic slowdown and awareness on pollution have also reduced corporate orders and Bunder street is dull this year missing the Deepavali fervour,” said an employee with Mahesh Stationeries that sells crackers during Deepavali.

The wholesale business is blunt till now and dealers are hoping for the retail business to improve by Sunday. And to attract kids interesting names for the fireworks are being marketed this season.
While the names of social networking sites including Facebook and WhatsApp made for impactful brands last year, it is the turn of the movies to occupy the space this Deepavali.

Most of the new cracker varieties are named after the upcoming projects noted directors and actors. Explaining the trend, R Mahesh of Sri Krishna fireworks, Sivakasi said, “We have named the cracker brands after Mahabharata as Bahubali director's next movie is on the epic. The same way, as there is going to be a sequel for 7am Arivu, we created brands such as 5th sense and 6th sense. The whole point is to be remembered and make some sales,” he said.

Madurai: The 90-year-old Sivakasi Firecrackers industry whose annual turnover is billed at Rs 5,000 crore this year, fears that it might incur a 25 per cent loss in as the products that have been supplied to dealers for sales in National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi might be returned.

The NCR which comprises 22 districts including major places like Faridabad, Gurgaon or Gurugram in Haryana, Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Alwar in Rajasthan to mention a few, were the major consumers of firecrackers in the northern part of the country, which constitutes 10 to 15 per cent of the total fireworks production, said AMS Ashokan, past president of Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association, Sivakasi.

Out of the 1,200 firecrackers industries, he said most of them broadly depending on these markets to make their profits during this year Deepavali season and for further investments. The fireworks manufacturing in Sivakasi is a round-the-year production scenario and not seasonal as claimed by some activists, he added.

“Only bursting of crackers is a seasonal one not the fireworks production which provides livelihood to six lakh people in Sivakasi alone,” said Ashokan.


Since the apex court had banned all fireworks in New Delhi region on November 11 last year, many industries had produced only 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the fireworks this year, said A P Selvarajan, director of Sri Kaliswari Fireworks Private Limited, Sivakasi.

The court lifting of ban on September 11 this year, helped the wholesale dealers to exhaust the old firework stocks, and they procured crackers on credits from the industries hoping for better sales in the month of October, said the manufactures.

However, the court re-imposed the ban 10 days ahead of Deepavali, which has left the wholesale dealers in the lurch. “As 25 per cent of the total sale depends on credit, it is not possible for us to recover our money from the dealers now. If we ask for the payments, they would ask us to take back the stocks,” said Ashokan.
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The ban will also affect the livelihood of thousands of retailers in NCR whose annual earnings of Rs 10 lakh depends only on the fireworks sales during Deepavali, he said.

Workers from the firecracker industry lamented, saying crackers cause pollution only for a week at best, but vehicles pollute 24x7 all 365 days.

​A Supreme Court ban on crackers in Delhi may clean up the capital’s air this Diwali but the decision is likely to choke the livelihoods of lakhs of workers in Tamil Nadu’s fireworks manufacturing hub of Sivakasi that fears a loss of more than Rs 1,000 crore.Fireworks manufacturers in the tiny southern Tamil Nadu town, which accounts for 85% of all crackers sold in the country, say they are worried that other states might emulate the top court order.

“Diwali is the time we make maximum profits and the SC order will completely smash many units,” Asai Thmabi, president of Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association, told Hindustan Times. He said there was no time for a review of the top court order as only 10 days remained for Diwali.
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“We cause pollution only for a week at best, but vehicles pollute the city 24x7 all 365 days. What about that?”

Sivakasi has an annual estimated turnover of about Rs 7000 crore and employs more than 300,000 workers directly in the firecracker manufacturing factories. Another 500,000 are engaged in related industries – packaging, printing, paper rolling transportation and the like.

“We are worried about loss of jobs and livelihood options for people if firecrackers are banned in other cities too,” added Asai Thambi.

Sivakasi has been in the news frequently for its dangerous working conditions, employment of child labour and a rash of accidents in unsafe manufacturing units, but the industry has thrived.

“Some NGO or other petitioner can spoil the Diwali of manufacturers by filing a petition in any court, citing the SC ban seek a similar order to prevent noise pollution and environmental pollution,” the Sivakasi manufacturers association said.

G Sivaraman, another small manufacturer, said that Diwali celebrations were part of the tradition and culture of people. “How can the court disregard the fact that stopping use of firecrackers would hurt the sentiments of many people?” he asked.

Accidents in Sivakasi:

September 5, 2012: Explosion in an unlicensed factory kills 52 people and injures 70.

September 12, 2012: Explosion in small factory kills 3.

May 15, 2013: Three people die and 13 get injured in a blaze that rips through a private fireworks factory after an accidental explosion.

April 28, 2013: Eight people killed in an explosion in a firecracker factory.

May 23, 2014: Three people die in a fire at a cracker unit.

October 20, 2016: Eight killed in accidental fire at a firecracker factory.

December 2, 2016: Eight patients at a scanning centre in Sivakasi die after a neighbouring firecracker unit catches fire. Thick fumes engulf the centre and choke the victims.