The Agarbatti Industry

How India's agarbatti (incense stick) industry employs lakhs of women rolling sticks at home, the Mysore and Bengaluru hub, and brands like Cycle Pure.

Agarbatti (incense sticks) is a large industry.

Hub

Bengaluru and Mysuru in Karnataka are major hubs.

Brands

Cycle Pure Agarbathies (founded 1948 in Mysuru), Zed Black, Mangaldeep (ITC) and others.

Home-based work

Lakhs of women roll sticks at home, paid per thousand sticks.

Wages

Piece-rate earnings are low.

Mechanisation

Machines now make raw sticks faster, cutting manual rolling.

Exports

India exports agarbatti worldwide.

The piece-rate worker

A woman in Karnataka rolls thousands of agarbatti sticks at home each day, paid per thousand.

Thinking incense is made only in factories

Much rolling is home-based.

Key takeaways

Karnataka is an agarbatti hub.
Cycle Pure was founded in 1948.
Women roll sticks at home.
Machines are changing production.