HYDERABAD: Dhoolpet, the hub of Lord Ganesha’s idols in the city, seems to be losing its share of small sized idols to Sholapur market of Maharashtra. Dhoolpet still has a good demand for its large sized idols, but the idols ranging from two foot to five tall are increasingly being imported to the city from Sholapur for the past few years.
Kishor Singh, a retailer of small idols at Dhoolpet, said, “Small idols from Sholapur are much cheaper than local ones. They also have better quality, which is another reason why we prefer them.” Some retailers at Dhoolpet who are not into the idol-making business started buying them from Sholapur a few years ago. Those idols seem profitable despite the additional transport charges. “We can save at least a thousand rupees on every five foot idol from Sholapur,” says Praveen Kumar who runs an idol shop in Dhoolpet.
Expensive labour charges and increased price of plaster of paris pushed the prices of idols in Hyderabad. Sholapur market still has cheap labour. It also encourages retailers to offer them to customers at much cheaper rates than the local home-made small sized idols at Dhoolpet.
However, the local idol makers dismissed the growing popularity of Sholapur idols. Vinay Raju, a graduate who runs his family business of idol-making, said “It’s not completely true. Only those who don’t have production here buy them from Sholapur. Dhoolpet still rules the idol market in Hyderabad.” However, he admitted that local idols are expensive but insisted the “quality is still good here.”
Dhoolpet still has its hold on large-sized idols. Fourteen to sixteen foot tall idols which are most popular at Dhoolpet are being sold for around `one lakh. The cost changes based on additional requirements like the theme and colour of the idol. Many of the shops already have received orders from across the city .
The cost of idols saw a consistent growth in the past two years due to the hike in the prices of raw material like Plaster of Paris, colours, bamboo sticks, coir etc. Small-scale idol makers are the worse-hit by high prices of raw material. Most of them borrow money from money lenders for capital. Sometimes, they end up making losses when they fail to sell all of their idols.