Third-generation brass trader and exporter Sachin Chadha says Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “one-sided” friendship with US President Donald Trump has put Moradabad’s flagship brassware exports in a state of limbo.
Trump’s increased tariffs have led to orders being cancelled or put on hold by US customers ahead of the peak Christmas season, Chadha says, sitting inside his shop at Peetal Nagri market in Moradabad City, the “Brass Capital of India”. The entire industry is in the grip of fear and uncertainty.
Rhythmic clanging and a symphony of clinking hammers welcome you to the market. The air carries the faint smell of molten metal. The shops brim with intricately crafted brass chandeliers, urns, bowls, trays, vases, utensils and lanterns that seem to cast a golden glow.
“Modiji’s one-sided friendship has got us into trouble. Trump has betrayed us,” Chadha complains.
Abhinandan Jain, owner of Jain Metals, one of the oldest retail shops in Moradabad city's Peetal Nagri
“Our livelihoods are tied to US-bound exports, but now we are witnessing bulk cancellations of orders from many of our clients. Several other American companies have put their orders on hold till normality returns. We fear the contracts will shift to China.”
Chadha says that hundreds of artisans will soon lose their jobs since the traders and exporters cannot wait indefinitely for normality to return: they have to pay salaries and repay bank loans every month.
Till last month, the US tariff was 10 per cent, the exporters said. On July 31, Trump announced a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff on goods imported from India, starting August 7.
On August 6, he signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff from August 27, justifying it as a response to India’s “direct or indirect” purchase of crude oil from Russia.
More than half the total export value of India’s merchandise to the US is likely to be affected by Washington’s reciprocal tariff move, junior finance minister Pankaj Chaudhary recently told Parliament.
Several exporters in Moradabad said inflation and shipping costs had already squeezed the profit margins, and Trump’s tariffs could be the final nail.
Pulkit Sharma of Vallabh Metal, an export firm, said Trump’s tariff plan wouldreduce Moradabad’s total brassware exports by up to 50 per cent.
“We may have to lay off workers who are not immediately needed. Currently, operations are being maintained with reduced staff following the cancellation of export orders from the US,” he said.
Moradabad is about 170km from Delhi and was named after Prince Murad Bakhsh, the youngest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who reigned from 1628 to 1658.
Exporter Abhinandan Jain said Moradabad’s ascent as a centre for brass artistry began in the 17th century during the Mughal era. Influences from Persia and Egypt, brought to India by traders and courtiers, helped introduce ornamental engraving.
During Shah Jahan’s reign, Moradabad’s brassware was exported to Turkey, Iran and elsewhere in West Asia. The industry bloomed further in the early 19th century with the British taking the products to various foreign markets.
Currently, the annual turnover of the district’s brass industry is around ₹15,000 crore, of which ₹10,000 crore comes from export, an official of the Moradabad Handicraft Export Association said.
Around 3,500 exporters run their units in the district and nearly 5 lakh artisans are associated with the industry. The bulk of the exports go to the US, Europe, Australia and West Asia.
The brass handicrafts industry includes a range of sectors, from the manufacturers of the raw material to the wholesale and retail dealers of the manufactured goods. Traders like Chadha and big exporters form another group and then there are the artisans, who usually work either for the big export houses or run their own units.
Abhinandan Jain, 72, owner of Jain Metal, one of the oldest shops in Peetal Nagri that was set up in 1948, said the situation was precarious.
“The 50 per cent tariff announcement was a bolt from the blue,” the fourth-generation trader and exporter of brass handicrafts to the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Australia said.
“The brass industry makes Moradabad one of the largest handicrafts exporters from India. If US clients push us to share the tariff burden, the entire supply chain will suffer — from exporters to artisans.”
Gaurav Chowdhury, manager of Lois Creations, a big exporter with its office on the city’s outskirts, said the increased tariffs were a staggering blow ahead of the Christmas retail season.
“Nine containers of brassware and copper handicrafts worth ₹5.5 crore were all set to be exported to the US but are now lying in the factory because our clients cancelled their orders or put them on hold. Each container has handicrafts worth ₹60 lakh,” he said.
These include chandeliers, showpiece deer, Christmas hangings, cake stands, home décor, serving platters, tabletops, utensils, lamps and bowls.
Chowdhury said his company used to export, on anaverage, brassware handicrafts worth ₹2 crore to the US every month.
“Many people, especially those involved in packaging, have already lost their jobs with the company. Things will become worse if the situation persists for another few months,” he said.
At Peerzada Road, the heart of the brass industry that houses thousands of workshops, one could see artisans, flushed with heat, rhythmically hammering away at brass metal plates or engaged in carving designs or welding.
Some of the artisans have their in-house manufacturing units — complete with a furnace, moulding tools and a polishing machine — and workshops. Several export firms have their own manufacturing units and employ artisans.
Another artisan, Raunak Ali, 65, says the “notebandi” and the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) by the Centre had led to several shutdowns in the micro and small-scale brass industries.
Md Ehtesam, 63, is busy carving intricate patterns on a fruit bowl inside a workshop. He does four bowls daily, earning ₹300 for each. He is a fourth-generation artisan, and his three sons too are artisans with an export firm.
Ehtesam is too busy to talk but Akbar, the owner of the workshop, says: “The brass and metal industry is our economic lifeline. It received a big jolt after the (November 2016) demonetisation. We have somehow managed to recover partially but the new tariff regime could sound the death knell for the industry.”
“It was very difficult to manage two square meals a day for the family after notebandi. Many artisans were forced to work as daily wage earners, rickshaw and auto-rickshaw drivers or security guards,” he said.
Before the demonetisation, brass work was done in almost all the homes in the old Moradabad area, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood where families had been engaged in the industry for generations. Now, a large chunk of them work as labourers.
Jain, the exporter, said he was still hopeful that better sense would prevail on Trump.
“American customers are asking us to wait. They have been dependent on our products for years. We are still hopeful that something positive will emerge from the talks between the Indian and US governments,” Jain said.