Despite being involved in a job considered to be the costliest as it involves one of the noble metals, goldsmiths from Coimbatore believe that the arrival of big players has made a big dent in their business.

Traditional jewellery manufacturers from Coimbatore lament that their dying profession has largely not been recognised by merchants and public.

According to C. Muthiah (name changed), a traditional goldsmith residing near Idayar Veethi in Coimbatore, the city with more than 1.5 lakh goldsmiths is one of the major gold manufacturing places in the world.

These goldsmiths live within a radius of seven km in areas such as Selvapuram, Variety Hall Road, R.S. Puram, Idayar Veedhi, Raja Street and Ukkadam.

“The numbers were not the same some five years ago as there were more than 5 lakh goldsmiths and nearly 50,000 manufacturing units. This has reduced to less than 25,000 now,” he informed.

Another manufacturer claimed that despite more than 10 ton worth of gold jewellery being manufactured in Coimbatore each year, only big players and corporate companies benefitted.

“My own son committed suicide after he suffered heavy loss in the business. This is not the only case, there are many who have taken extreme step,” he claimed.

Gone were the times when goldsmiths were highly respected. Schools were refusing to give admission to the children of goldsmiths fearing that they would be unable to pay the fees.

“This is the real situation. People think that we take too much gold as wastage. We are only allowed to take one or two per cent, which is falsely projected by merchants as 10 or 15 per cent,” said an aggrieved goldsmith.

With the business completely dominated by big players, the arrival of Bengali employees has further worsened the situation.

“There are more than 10,000 Bengali workers working in various small factories and they work for more than 12 hours a day even for lower wages. Traditional goldsmiths demand more wages and work only eight hours and this is also a reason why we are losing the business,” said another goldsmith.

Some goldsmiths were working as night guards and painters as they were not able to survive in the field. In addition, merchants were also allegedly playing their part by blaming the goldsmiths if the quality of the jewellery was not good.

“When costumers complain that the quality of the jewel is bad, the merchants blame us but we do what we are told to do. The introduction of excise duty will not have an impact on the lives of the merchants. But we are being dragged into the issue by merchants. We urge the Government to find a solution and help us survive in the traditional business handed over to us by our forefathers.”