Some cry alone, others join bigger chorus

MUMBAI: Me too, they say, demanding to be heard after every Budget: Small and obscure groups spring to life with their own set of demands to the finance minister. The opposite tactic was used in a memorable protest in 1996 from the Hair Fixer Manufacturers Association of India. Hair fixer, for the uninformed, is used by Sikh men to prevent their beards from straying, and the Hair Fixer Manufacturers Association was keen to stress how few used it. â€œThe Sikh population in the country is hardly 2% of the total population,â€� it argued. â€œAfter taking out females, young boys up to the age of 18/20 years, elderly persons and villagers, etc, net number of consumers is very low... Revenue collection on such a small item will not help add anything considerable to the total exchequer after the availment of Modvat and SSI benefits. Please consider and allow Hair Fixer to remain out of the purview of Excise Duty.â€� As it happens, the FM at that time was Mr Chidambaram and as far as we know, he turned a deaf ear to them then. And if ever there was a year and a government to correct this past mistake it was this one, but again he seems to have passed them by. (Perhaps Mr Singh didnâ€™t want to use undue influence, or perhaps he just doesnâ€™t use hair fixer). This suggests that the value of such post-Budget protests are low, and yet that doesnâ€™t stop them from rolling in. This year weâ€™re just waiting to get the appeals from the associations of pandal and shamiana contractors, business exhibitors, outdoor caterers, TV/radio programme producers and playing card manufacturers, to name just a few of those hit with taxes in this Budget. How real are these associations? Maybe not all that much. â€œIt really only exists on paper now,â€� admits one leading Hair Fixer Manufacturer cheerfully. That bears out the experience of economist Omkar Goswami, whoâ€™s encountered quite a few of them in his past career as chief economist to CII. â€œOften theyâ€™re just one or two of the big guys in that industry who have decided to form an organisation,â€� he says. â€œSometimes the smaller guys join them as well.â€� In terms of lobbying power, such small industry associations arenâ€™t that effective, and the members often realise the value of joining the larger groups like CII or Ficci. â€œBut often theyâ€™re just happy to be on their own,â€� says Goswami. And so they exist, striking a faintly odd note when theyâ€™re listed alongside the more serious and boring sounding groups. For example, on one list of trade groups, in between the All India Exporters Chamber and the All India Manufacturers Organisation, you find the All India Flap Tap Manufacturerâ€™s Association. It is apparently a group of plastic woven sack manufacturers, but why â€˜Flap Tapâ€™ isnâ€™t explained. Do they perhaps have links to the Bombay Canvets and Tarpaulin Merchants Association, and are these in turn a breakaway group from the Bombay Tarpaulin Merchants Association? Sometimes one can see what the associations do, but itâ€™s just their names that sound odd. Is the Indian Hot Dip Galvanizers Association as bracingly energising a group as its name suggests? Industrial abrasives are important products, but one canâ€™t help wondering if its makers are hard to get on with as is suggested by their groupâ€™s name â€” the Abrasive Manufactures Association of India. What would their AGM be like? But the prize-of-sorts when it comes to association names must go to a group that is listed in the Mumbai phone directory (though no one picked up when we called). Could there be a group more precise than the Sea Food Peeling Shed Owners Association? Weâ€™ll be watching the faxes that come this week to see.

Some cry alone, others join bigger chorus

Me too, they say, demanding to be heard after every Budget: Small and obscure groups spring to life with their own set of demands to the finance minister.

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