The Kendu Leaf Trade: Problems & Prospects in Orissa - Vasundhara

production accounts for less than 1% of the national production although according to the
potentiality in KL production, this should have been about 10%.
Chart-15
Total production of bidi in Orissa
Production in number
8000000000
7000000000
6000000000
5000000000
4000000000
3000000000
2000000000
1000000000
0
7483133165
5665169107
4887363190
1996-97 2000-01 2005-06
Year
(based on data provided by Central Excise & Customs)
This indicates that although in comparison to the production of 2000-01, that of 2005-06 has
decreased by 24.29%, comparison with the production of 1996-97 shows that it has actually
increased by 15.91%.
At national level also the situation appears to be more or less similar. For instance, Jaydev Dey,
proprietor of Mantu Bidi Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata says that whereas his earlier daily production was
around 50 lakh sticks, now it has come down to 15-20 lakh sticks due to a substantial decrease in
sales. However, he, as the President of the Federation of Biri, Biri Leaves, and Tobacco
Merchants, Kolkata also admits that on the whole the bidi production in West Bengal has
increased roughly by three times during last 10 years or so(personal communication, 30-5-06).
Umesh Parekh of Desai Brothers Ltd., Pune, an expert on bidi business, believes that the
production of bidi in India has remained more or less stagnant( or marginally declined) with a
current average production of about 250 crore sticks per day(personal communication). This
includes the production that goes unrecorded by the Central Excise & Customs, and suggests an
annual production of around 900 billion(90,000 crore) sticks.
Recorded production of bidi in the country is supposed to be significantly underestimated than
the actual production. For instance, data from the Ministry of Industry indicates that in 1994-95
the production was nearing 416 billion sticks which decreased to about 408 billion sticks in
1995-96 followed by an increase upto approx.418 billion in 1996-97.On the other hand,
calculations based on the production of bidi tobacco however puts the production in 1996-97 at
around 700 billion sticks(ILO 2003,pp.44-45).Since bidi manufacturers are required to pay
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