Firecracker industry in Moradabad gears up for Diwali

Moradabad is gearing up to shine bright this Diwali as the fireworks industry is busy with the production of crackers and is expected to do good business during the festival of lights.

With the government banning the import of firecrackers from China, the Indian brands hope to do well.

Chinese crackers have been in demand as they are a lot cheaper than their Indian counterparts. However, the industry workers say this time that they have tried to be more innovative by making crackers that are less noisy but sparkle more and are trying to catch up with the demand for their products.

"Since our crackers did not sell much in the market, we started making them differently and now they are in demand, much more than Chinese crackers," said a worker, Ram Yadav.

Chinese crackers have always dominated Indian markets making it tough for the local manufactures to sell their product. But this year, the wholesalers and retailers in the city have decided to sell only Indian brand manufactured crackers.

A manufacturer of firecrackers, Deepak Kathuria, said though the business is good at present, there is always a threat due to illegal import of Chinese crackers.

"If imports of firecrackers continued, the Indian cracker industry would suffer a huge loss, which would also lead to unemployment of the labour that makes firecrackers," said Kathuria.

In the past few years, imports from China - from low-cost items like lights and crackers to high-value items like electronics and machinery - have dominated Indian markets in the lead up to Diwali.