Tamil Nadu: battling lighters to preserve the matchbox tradition
The Indian government has banned imports for low-cost ones (mostly Chinese) lighters to save a key sector in arid Tamil Nadu. Local companies employ more than 100,000 people, 90 per cent women. Phillumenists are also happy because of decorated boxes are part of Indian popular culture.
Milan (AsiaNews) – India has banned imports of lighters priced less than 20 rupees to the delight of mostly women workers in match factories and matchbox collectors, called phillumenists.
The new measure, which came into effect yesterday, applies to pocket, gas-powered, refillable, and non-refillable lighters, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade announced in a statement.
In September 2022, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin urged the central government to save the local matchbox industry that directly employs over 100,000 people, 90 per cent women.
"The industry is a vital engine of economic growth in a region that is arid for agriculture. You will be already aware that the matchbox industry earns foreign exchange revenue of around ₹400 crore (₹4 billion, US$ 49 million) through exports," Stalin said in a letter addressed to Union (federal) Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. One crore denotes 10 million.
According to V. S. Sethurathinam, National Small Matchbox Manufacturers Association Secretary, 350 companies in Tamil Nadu, plus 1,500 packaging units, make more than 5,000 bundles per day, among the cheapest in the world.
One in three matchboxes at home and abroad is Indian-made. But competition from countries like Pakistan and Indonesia, rising costs for raw materials, and labour action (several strikes, especially in the districts of Tuticorin and Virudhunagar) have made it harder to export.
For the chief minister, sales have also fallen due to the availability of Chinese disposable lighters, which cost only 10 rupees (compared to 400 for a matchbox) and can replace 20 boxes, but also generate large amounts of plastic waste with a negative impact on the environment and health.
Experts warn that lighters from China are sometimes illegally imported as "empty lighter cases" to get around restrictions on importing inflammable substances.
In addition to women workers, phillumeny enthusiasts are likely to welcome the import ban. Matchboxes are in fact part of Indian popular culture thanks to the many designs on the outer labels.
One of those enthusiasts is Gautam Hemmady, in Delhi, who started collecting matchboxes in 2012 and now owns some 25,000, while Rohit Kashyap, in Chennai, has a collection of 80,000 from more than 100 countries.
As with stamps and coins, matchboxes commemorate historical events.
Shreya Katuri’s Instagram account – @artonabox – shows her collection of thousands of boxes account. She was so taken by the boxes that she wrote a dissertation on Indian matchboxes, with the first made in India in the early 20th century by Japanese immigrants.
Before that, matchboxes came mostly from Sweden, the first country in the world to make phosphorus-based safety matches.
At first, the small boxes – first made of wood and then of cardboard - reproduced themes similar to those of foreign manufacturers, but, as the pro-independence movement gathered steam, more and more Indian references began to appear, like Bhaarat Maata (Mother India), along with Indian animals, gods, maps, political figures and later actors and actresses thanks to the popularity of Indian cinema that later became Bollywood.
Starting in the 1990s many boxes illustrated certain historical events, like the launch of the Tata Nano, a car sold exclusively in the Indian market, and the inauguration more recently of the Delhi Metro.
Nowadays matchboxes can be bought in stalls, but for phillumenists the most valuable are the empty ones found on the side of the road.
Shreya Katuri's sister nearly got into an accident when she jumped out of a car in mid ride to pick up a matchbox she saw on a footpath.
While some collectors hope to open a museum soon, several companies, including publishing houses, take inspiration from matchbox designs, which, although a bit kitschy and extravagant, continue to be appreciated by many aficionados.
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04/06/2008
23/11/2019 09:01
