It's not just the Taj Mahal that India is famous for. Did you know that the Hiroshima Victims memorial in Japan, Vietnam War Memorial, Holocaust Memorial and the Astronaught Memorial in the US are all made from Indian stone.
This trend is however set to change for China is slowly taking over the international markets for Indian granite. India has lost a 35 per cent market share in Japan, which was the biggest market for the Indian monument industry.
While India's share is down to 5 per cent, China has taken over 95 per cent of the Japanese monument industry market. It is also fast capturing India's market share in countries of the European Union.
China has successfully adopted a cluster approach for developing its granite and monument stone industry, said R Veeramani, President, Confederation of Export Units. However, the Indian government had failed to designate special areas for the stone industry. Also, China has other benefits like lower power tariffs, lower cost of funds and lower handling costs.
Sending a container from China to the United States costs between $600-800, while the corresponding cost in India would be anywhere between $1,800-2,600.
"We need to identify the areas of comparative disadvantage and see how to overcome them," said Veeramani. India needs to upgrade its engraving, workmanship and artistic quality and build a brand value for products.
Government support is required for issues like royalty payments. Granite, which is mostly exported, is treated as a minor mineral and royalty rates are fixed by state governments at levels which are 500-1,000 per cent higher than in China.
"In China the royalty payments are negligible while they do not exist in the case of Japan and United States. Since the EOUs are not entitled to drawback, the government must find out a via media to ensure that such additional burden by way of octroi and royalty payments are reimbursed to the units," he said.
Veeramani said the government must also provide incentives in the form of lower interest rate of 6 per cent on terms loans and working capital for EOUs.
The industry which is entirely export oriented, has geared itself up to take on the challenge, said R Veeramani, President, Confederation of Export Units. In a bid to create a brand value for Indian stone, the industry is organising a Stone Fair in Chennai from January 23-26.
The fair, will showcase the country's expertise in monuments as well as in machinery, accessories, tools and handling equipment.
India has one of the largest reserves of granite in the world and exported Rs 2,600 crore (Rs 26 billion) worth of the stone last year.
Granite exports this fiscal are expected to touch Rs 2,800 crore (Rs 28 billion) and nearly one-fourth of these exports is accounted for by monument stones.
