Chinese 'Pichkaris' or Herbal Gulal: It's All About Celebrating Holi

When Colour Earns Money

The revenues from Holi colours and accessories almost touched 12, 000 crore in the year 2012, reported business-standard.com. There are many color manufacturers who produce natural colours without using any harmful chemicals, which has encouraged many people to enjoy the festival wholeheartedly. Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), analyzed that the increased demand for herbal and perfumed colours had encouraged the Holi color industry to reach almost 4, 500 crore last year.

And now Holi is not only limited to Indian boundaries, China may not know the significance of Holi but it very well knows that the festival provides a huge market for various accessories. Markets in northern India have been flooded with Chinese 'pichkaris' (water guns), balloons and colours this Holi, leaving jobless about one million people in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, according to an Assocham survey.

"A sharp decline in SME units is creating job losses in the sector affecting over 8-10 lakh people. Even the owners of SMEs are indebted to bankers and moneylenders due to continued loss of business and capital," revealed the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) survey.

The Assocham surveyed about 1,000 color manufacturers and shopkeepers in Allahabad, Agra, Hathras, Mathura, Vrindavan, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), Kanpur, Lucknow and Patna between January and February. The findings revealed that an array of colored powder and squirt guns imported from China has triggered attrition in SMEs operating in these Indian towns and cities.

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