Importing Incense Sticks From India - Now Easier Than Ever
The Incense Stick Industry in India
The use of incense sticks is a popular practice around the world, especially for religious and cultural occasions. This has a large market in the Southeast Asia region. The production of incense sticks in India constitutes a significant part of the small-scale cottage industry and people from various sections of society are involved in this activity across India. Due to various reasons, the demand for incense sticks is increasing internationally. So there is a huge scope to expand the market and develop the industry as people from other parts of the globe are interested to import this product to serve their local market and make a profit. India has a great competitive advantage in this area due to the availability of raw materials, skills, and low production costs.
As of today, a large number of countries are importing a major part of the incense sticks manufactured in India. The southern states of India, such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been dominating the market, Mysore being the leading exporter. One of the biggest advantages in this industry is the availability of raw materials which are naturally produced, recyclable, and eco-friendly. This makes the product highly appealing all over the world. The capital investment is low as it is made by hand with no involvement of plants and machinery. This factor also helps to create a better profit margin if demand for imports is catered to effectively.
How To Make Sure That You Get The Perfect Fragrance For Your Needs From India?
India is a hub for good-quality incense sticks and is known for the same. India’s rich and varied culture makes it the best place to produce incense sticks. The promising nature of importing incense sticks from India has made the Indian government step in, to provide various benefit schemes for the manufacturers to support the industry and trade. The import of incense sticks from India will be facilitated by a systematic process that allows the manufacturers to export their products to a larger market and help potential customers conveniently reach Indian manufacturers for import activities. The process includes the following steps:
- The manufacturers need to incorporate their business as a legally acceptable entity like a public or private limited company or partnership firm.
- After that, they need to register their company under Foreign Trade to attain necessary permissions from the Director-General.
- They have to apply for a license or code that allows them to export their product.
- After getting a 10-digit import-export registration code they become eligible for export and should contact potential customers through the export promotion council.
- The manufacturer can inform the customers in other countries to communicate their import quantity and accordingly scale up production.
Platforms like Craftezy make it much easier for buyers to buy authentic and best-quality incense sticks from India. This online platform lists all the famous incense sticks prepared by craftsmen from all over India.
The Demands of Indian Incense Sticks in Global Market
Incense sticks have started gaining popularity in western countries because they create an ambiance that is suitable for meditation, yoga, and aromatherapy. Indian incense sticks are available in various shapes, sizes and can generate fragrances like jasmine, lavender, rose and sandalwood.
These qualities have made Indian incense sticks very popular across countries and have attracted a large customer base that wants to import them to their respective locations and market them.
This product has a very encouraging growth rate in exports from India. In recent years, around 175 countries import incense sticks from India. The fastest-growing import countries are South Sudan, Mayotte, Venezuela, and, Malaysia. The combined value of import of incense sticks has reached up to 90.64 USD million. With the increase in demand, this industry has huge potential to promote imports from other countries and earn foreign exchange. Incense sticks are not only considered as a source of fragrance, but also as décor, fashion, and style. It satisfies the diverse requirements of customers in the global arena with standard quality and price.
The incense sticks show functional and aesthetic qualities that make them one of the preferred products at home. There are a large group of non-resident Indians spread across various countries in the world who are potential customers and have high discretionary income at their disposal to spend on this to represent their cultural heritage and traditions on various occasions. These incense sticks can be procured easily on online handicraft platforms like Craftezy.
The Import of Indian Incense Sticks By overseas countries
The import of Indian incense sticks is facing challenges with the advent of products from China and Vietnam, which offers lower price and more quantity.
The incense stick industry has still been restricted as a cottage-based industry and struggles to meet the demand of voluminous production, with limited capacity and resources. However, the government initiative to create awareness about machine-based production will lead to more people setting up machines and increasing production. However, a large segment of customers prefers handmade incense sticks for their quality, which has a steady demand for imports especially in Europe and North America. There is an expansion of the market as countries like Iraq, Iran, and the Netherlands have also started importing incense sticks from India.
There is a potential market for imports in Africa and the Middle East that can help the industry grow. The Indian government has established close ties with foreign nations to encourage those importing handmade products from India. The key requirements for buyers are the quality of fragrance, design variety, eco-friendly materials, and durable but attractive packaging. It is a very sensitive product and related to religious sentiments and emotions that make it very unique in overseas countries.
The Potential Growth of Incense Sticks Import
India has a very rich tradition and expertise in the field of small-scale and cottage industries that involve a large volume of people. This industry is mostly rural-centric and concentrated in certain specific areas of the country in different states. To boost up this industry from a business perspective, there is a requirement of expanding this industry to other parts of the country.
Instead of handmade products, machine-based production facilities will help to scale up the volume with improved efficiency. The consumption of these products is rapidly increasing in other countries resulting in better import trends. Such an increase in demand has encouraged the incense stick manufacturers to raise the production rate allowing more and more countries to think of importing this product from India.Â
Since it is a profitable business model considering the prevailing demand patterns, the small-scale manufacturer can reap good profit from it. However, the import of incense sticks from India by overseas nations involves certain prerequisites to be fulfilled as mentioned earlier. These prerequisites are mandatory and online platforms like craftezy makes it easy for buyers to import the incense sticks(agarbatti) directly from manufacturers.
The industry is labor-intensive and employs a large segment of people working in the remotest corners of the country. The import growth has helped to sustain millions of such laborers across the country and motivated them to apply the best of their skills to deliver premium quality products. It not only contributes towards revenue generation but also promotes India’s culture and tradition through the use of incense sticks all over the world. The price remains very competitive due to cheap labor and raw materials. This becomes an advantage in fetching import orders as people find the price much less as compared to the experience it offers.
Initiatives To Be Taken To Make Imports of Incense Sticks Easier
International customers always look for authentic sellers who can supply the best quality products. Indian handmade products and handicrafts have been quite in demand in overseas nations. Taking advantage of that, the incense stick manufacturing industry in India has to come up with more variety of products and creative designs to attract international customers. It should utilize every new opportunity to highlight its capabilities and potential to serve the global market. It would increase the chances of getting in touch with more and more overseas customers who will be ready to import this product.Â
The more structured framework of this industry will allow taking care of different import-related issues such as logistics, transactions, shipments, safety, negotiation, etc. The use of e-commerce platforms like craftezy helps in getting import orders from all over the world conveniently.Â
The online platform also helps importers to choose from a variety of products and sellers. One of the best online trade platforms for handmade products is Craftezy, which provides support to reach global customers with import requirements. It allows showcasing the products and allows potential customers to find the desired product conveniently.Â
How To Face The Challenges of This Industry?
The incense stick industry has to overcome some challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, low capital, and lack of organized identity, and overall absence of knowledge about marketing strategies. To encourage imports from other countries, the manufacturers in India have to compete with other manufacturers of Southeast Asia with the application of advanced technology both in the manufacturing and marketing fields.Â
Online trade platforms like Craftezy helps to increase the visibility of products and expand the customer reach across the world which facilitates the import of incense sticks from India. This in turn results in revenue and profit growth for this cottage industry.Â
The involvement of the Export Promotion Council as a part of government initiative also helps to increase awareness about export marketing and approachability of import interested countries. Proper research about the market and implementing suitable marketing strategies can help expand the business through the generation of import requirements.Â
