Vellore grinding stones roll into Bengal market

Muniappan, who has been involved in this trade for more than two decades, said, “Easy availability of the stone in Vellore district is one reason we are able to undertake manufacturing of grindstones and mortar and pestles here.”

“There are 45 of us involved in this trade in the district and we are unable to make our ends meet,” said Muniappan’s relative Kumar.

Despite spending hours chipping grind stones and mortar-pestles, Muniappan’s family — living on the roadside in Gandhinagar on the way to Katpadi — is able to sell only two or four pieces a month to local customers. But, businessmen from Chittoor in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh have been buying the instruments in bulk and selling them to cities like Kolkata and make huge profits.

Muniappan said, “The grindstones are priced between Rs 600 and Rs 4,000 while the mortar and pestles range from Rs 300 to Rs 600. The AP traders, however, buy the small grind stones for Rs 300 and the bigger ones for Rs 1,200. As they pay us in cash instantly, we cannot bargain too much with them.”

Loans from banks to help their business is not an option for these traders as they do not have a permanent address. “Things may improve if the state government forms a cooperative society exclusively for us. We will then be able to ship the products directly to customers in Kolkata,” said Muniappan.