Growing cracks in Telangana’s granite trade
Telangana’s once-thriving granite industry is showing signs of stress as export markets shrink and input costs soar. In Karimnagar and Khammam districts, quarry owners, factory operators and migrant workers are all feeling the impact of a prolonged downturn, report P. Sridhar and P. Laxma Reddy
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Stone under strain: A worker oversees a granite block being cut at a processing unit in Khammam, where many factories are operating below capacity amid an industry downturn. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
For years, Rajendra Mohanty believed granite would guarantee him a steady livelihood. Today, cooking over a firewood stove outside his room on a factory campus in Kamanpur near Karimnagar, the 42-year-old migrant worker from Odisha is unsure what lies ahead. A slowdown triggered by geopolitical tensions in West Asia, rising fuel costs and weakening export demand has begun to ripple through Telangana’s granite industry, affecting everyone from quarry owners and factory operators to truck drivers and migrant labourers.
According to official sources, only around 25% of the licensed quarries are currently fully functional. “We faced hard times during the COVID-induced lockdown in 2020 and are now experiencing a crisis-like situation,” says Mohanty, who has worked in Kamanpur for the past 12 years after migrating from Balasore in Odisha.
“Rising fuel prices have pushed up transportation costs while demand in international markets has slowed,” he adds, pointing to stacks of unsold granite slabs.
The crisis has seeped into everyday life. Mohanty says workers have switched to the chulha (firewood stove) due to LPG shortages and rising prices. Of the 30 migrant workers employed at the factory where he is employed, 13 have already returned to their native States since the latest downturn gripped the industry, he explains.
Factory owners are grappling with rising production costs due to the increase in prices of imported raw materials, even as demand for granite blocks and polished slabs weakens. Across Telangana’s granite belt spanning Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts, many units have scaled down production and even reduced manpower, leaving thousands of workers facing an uncertain future.
Telangana is one of India’s leading granite-producing States, with Karimnagar renowned
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