The Ganesh festival is round the corner and after the reduction of duty under GST regime on clay idols, the demand for Ganpati idols made from ‘Shadu’ clay (natural soil) has increased.
The GST Council has revised the tax rate for idols made by using all types of materials to 5% as against previous 28%, which has boosted the demand for clay idols during the 10-day Ganesh festival in the last week of this month.
Citizens are nowadays Eco-conscious and since the prices of idols made from clay has come down the demand for Shadu made idols has doubled. The idol makers claim that the bookings for the clay idols starts as early as December. Last year, 60 tonnes of clay was used to make the idols, but the idol makers require 110 tonnes this year.
One can make 30-40 idols using plaster of Paris (PoP) where as only 2 to 3 clay idols can be made in a day. However clay idols do not cause environmental damage after immersion in natural water bodies like the PoP ones that have chemical which remain unaltered for a long time in water.