The ‘tapri’ opposite Mani’s lunch home is never empty. Try sitting there
for a day and you’ll notice that the shopkeeper is selling cigarettes with one
hand and pan with another. Trying to
figure out what we don’t get in Matunga, we realized that there is no market
gap in this part of the city. Everything you need, you find it here and
especially for students. Matunga has three of the best colleges in Mumbai. It
caters to every need of the students here. Talking to a few we realized that
all students want when they are out of home is food, recharge a photocopy
centre and cigarettes.
The cigarette industry is one
industry that is doing very well today; it generates the highest revenues when
it comes to retail. Keeping the student needs in mind, there are more than 20
shops selling all almost all the brands of cigarettes within a radius of one
kilometer. Conducting a reccee of these shops we did notice that they have
every brand of cigarette with them and though there are innumerable cigarette
shops in this area, they do well and there is tough competition. Keeping the
daily habits of students in mind such stores have been set up in the area,
knowing or not knowing. Having a cigarette shop in front of a college is
illegal, this also gives a hint that the local police is also involved in the
business, because it’s a college zone, L.Napoo Road, there is police patrolling
all the time.
Though the prices of these
cigarettes are high, students from Podar and Welingkar, many of who come from
very rich backgrounds can actually afford brands like Marlboro, Benson etc. and
also cigars are available around the place and a handful of them do go for it
too. One student belonging to one of these colleges, says ‘I can’t imagine my
day without cigarette. I need it after every two hours’. Every shop in Matunga
which sells cigarettes is doing well. This is evident because of the number of
the people a regular trespasser notices at one shop. One can surely say that
though it is not being focused on much by any media, the cigarette industry is
one of the most profitable industries in the world.
Anurag Anand (9401)
Pradnya Surve (9413)
Ananya Bose (9404)
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