Raw material & GST make Ganesha dearer this festive season

Hyderabad: Ganesha becomes dearer this year! Thanks to the rising cost of materials and GST on the raw materials like clay, PoP, bamboo sticks, coir, paints, labour, etc. People will have to pay about 30% to 35% more to buy an idol as compared to the last year. Even a one-foot Ganesha whose price was Rs 1,500 last year is now being sold at Rs 2,500 and it may go up as the festival day approaches.

Manoj Kumar, idol maker from Dhoolpet, told The Hans India that a bag of PoP used to cost Rs 150 last year but now it is more than Rs 300. The cost of paints has gone up by 25%. Added to this, there is a shortage of labour as those from West Bengal and Rajasthan who had left during the pandemic had not returned. The idol makers say that this year there is high demand for clay idols. This has shot up the price of clay saying that it has to be brought from faraway places like Odisha, West Bengal and Rajasthan. The number of those who know how to make clay idols is also less and they were charging around Rs 2,000 per day. "Price of a clay idol of 2.5 ft to 7 ft ranges between Rs 3,500 and Rs 18,000 per idol," said K Nagesh, eco-friendly Ganesh idol manufacturer at Chaderghat. Last year, a 5 ft idol was sold at Rs 6,000 but now it is around Rs 9,000 and may further shoot up as the day for puja draws closer. The cost of a 14-ft to 18-ft idol this year varies between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh, he added. Though fortunately there is no GST on idols, they cannot escape paying 15% GST on raw materials said Kailash Singh, another idol maker from Dhoolpet.