Abstract
Background: The bidi industry in India is predominantly an unorganized sector. It continues to enjoy tax benefits, arguably, to protect bidi workers' interests and employment. Our objective was to study trends in employment and wage differentials in the bidi industry using nationally representative data.Methods: We studied trends in employment and wages in the bidi industry using secondary data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Government of India–the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) (2000–2001 to 2011–2012) and Enterprises Survey (2000–2001, 2005–2006, 2010–2011).Results: The bidi industry contributed to only 0.65% of the total gross value added (GVA) by the entire manufacturing industry. Employment in this industry was primarily through contractors. Bidi workers earned only 17% of wages compared to workers in other manufacturing industries. Although females constituted the majority of bidi workers, they earned INR 7,000 to 8,000 (USD 155.7 to 178) less than male bidi workers annually. Despite the increase in bidi industry profits from INR 1.7 billion (USD 37.8 million) in 2005–2006 to INR 12.8 billion (USD 285 million) in 2010–2011, the wages of bidi workers have continued to decline over this period.Conclusion: Bidi workers earn much less compared to workers in other manufacturing industries and are subject to income inequality. There is a need to increase registration of the bidi industry for better administration of taxes and prevention of exploitation of the bidi workers. Skill building and alternative employment could provide better job quality, wages, social security and employment benefits.
Highlights
Bidi is the most common smoked tobacco product in India [1]
We studied trends using the secondary data to measure the different dimensions of the bidi industry: (i) type of employment in bidi industry, (ii) profits earned by bidi industry over the time (iii) wages earned by the bidi workers in comparison to other manufacturing units (iv) existence of wage inequalities if any between direct vs. contractual workers, male vs. female workers and managerial and supervisory level staff vs. other bidi workers
Bidi manufacturing contributed to only 0.65% of the total gross value added (GVA) contributed by the entire manufacturing sector, this equates to INR 48.2 billion (USD 1.1 billion; 1USD =44.95 for year 2004–2005 here on)
Summary
Bidi (an indigenous smoking product made my rolling a dried, rectangular piece of tendu leaf with 0.15–0.25 grams of dried, flaked tobacco and secured with a thread) is the most common smoked tobacco product in India [1]. The bidi industry was largely confined to the organised sector but it gradually shifted to the unorganised sector. This shift was attributed to strict government rules, regulations and policies on the organised. Bidi Industry Employment and Wages sector and the tax liberalisation in the unorganised sector [6]. The registered companies are the large entities producing more than 2 million branded bidis per year, are bound to pay excise duty on their product and are legally bound to follow labour laws; while, the unregistered companies have been exempted from tax payments, as they manufacture
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