Is the Indian shuttle industry in recession?

A report on NDTV a month ago painted a gloomy picture of the shuttle industry in Uluberia, Howrah District.

The NDTV report claimed the recession in the shuttle cottage industry was due to a shortfall in the availability of raw material. The cork, which was imported from Portugal, had become costly. India has no trade ties with Portugal that could balance these prices, the report said.
Most of the feathers for the Indian shuttle industry come in illegally through Bangladesh.

The market for the bigger manufacturers runs to around Rs 5 to 10 lakh a year, while smaller ones cater to a market of Rs 50,000 a year. Since the entire industry is small scale, home-based cottage industry, the recession has had some drastic results.

Strangely, when I met Gagan Bose, Proprietor of Samrat Shuttlecocks, at the Jamshedpur Nationals, he claimed a growth of 500 per cent in his business over the last seven years! Bose happens to be the nephew of Monoj Guha, the legendary Indian doubles player known as 'The Black Panther' for his speed.

Whatever the status in Uluberia, Gagan Bose seemed happy with his business. He has a deal going with the Andhra Pradesh Badminton Association, where he will supply shuttles to all the local tournaments within the state. This translates into good money, for Andhra has the most active State association.

"Samrat shuttles are very popular in the South," Bose said. "Our sales have increased from 200 barrels a month to 2000 a month, over the last seven years." Bose claimed that the size of the shuttle industry in India is 100 crore.

I asked if he wasn't apprehensive of the Chinese entering the market.
"There's enough room for all players," Bose replied confidently. "Let the Chinese come."

Chinese shuttles are made from feathers sourced from Taiwan. The main difference between Taiwan geese and Bangladesh geese is that both wings of the Taiwan geese are of the same size. Bose claims the quality of Bangla feathers is as good as the Taiwan ones.

Indian shuttles are completely hand-crafted. The cork, imported from Portugal, comes from Delhi. The workers who make these the shuttles are skilled artisans. Only the punching of holes in the cork is done by machine.
Feathers are inserted by hand. Finally, the shuttle is coated with synthetic gelatin. The shuttles are hand-tested on court.

The dynamics of the shuttle industry are interesting if viewed in the context of Globalisation/ Free Trade. The last ten years have seen heated debates between proponents for and against Globalisation.

This is one industry that requires free trade. Indian players for long suffered due to a lack of availability of international shuttles. Prakash Padukone, for one, campaigned vociferously for international shuttles in domestic tournaments, since he had problems acclimatising to international shuttles after a domestic season with Indian shuttles.

That said, one has to admit there has not been a proportionate improvement in India's international standard even though we now regularly use Yonex or Ashaway shuttles even for junior tournaments.

Costs of hosting tournaments have increased dramatically in the last few years, a result of spiralling shuttle prices. This has affected many lesser-known junior tournaments.

Free Trade has been criticised of damaging domestic industry. The use of international shuttles for junior tournaments will not do any good to the Indian cottage industry of shuttle-makers. Perhaps we should go back to using Indian shuttles for local and junior level tournament, and graduate to international shuttles for senior tournaments.