HYDERABAD: The rise and fall of silver prices mirrors the lift and drop of a hammer, adding strain to the work of waraq makers. As hammers strike delicate silver sheets in a steady rhythm, the workers’ unease is evident.
With silver prices climbing sharply over the past 52 weeks, the effect is being felt in a small but visible segment of the economy — the waferthin silver waraq used to garnish kaju katli and other traditional sweets.
“As silver prices are rising day by day, demand for waraq has fallen sharply. On some days, we sit idle with no work,” says a waraq maker arranging freshly prepared silver sheets.Another worker beside him pauses hammering the leather pouches and adds,
“I have been doing this work for the past 30 years, but I have never seen such a sharp increase in silver prices.” When TNIE visited silver waraq-making units in the busy lanes of Hyderabad’s Old City, the steady pounding of hammers on leather pouches filled the air.
Inside workshops near the Charminar stretch, artisans patiently beat small pieces of silver into increasingly thin sheets. The figures reflect the pressure. Until a few months ago, traders sold a bundle of 100 silver sheets for around Rs 600.
With silver prices rising steeply, the same bundle now costs close to Rs 1,000, affecting both producers and buyers. The process itself has not changed and continues to be passed down through generations.
Workers spend long hours pounding leather pouches — in which small quantities of silver are placed — until the silver flattens into square foils. The final sheets, measuring just 0.2 to 0.8 micrometres in thickness, tear on contact with bare skin and must be handled using paper layers or specialised tools.
In sweet shops across the city, the rise in silver prices has led to uncertainty. With silver touching nearly Rs 3.35 lakh per kg, many shops are dealing with higher input costs.
Most have chosen not to raise prices. “We have decided not to increase sweet prices, even though the cost of waraq has gone up,” says a bakery owner in Somajiguda, who sources silver leaf from the Old City.
He says he avoids duplicate silver sheets available in the market, citing quality concerns. While sweets continue to gleam, the cost of silver is quietly altering livelihoods, with traders reporting slower waraq sales.