Business · Companies · 2 hrs ago
Women’s home-based work sustains Hupari’s silver industry
Women make 60–70% of Hupari’s silver artisans in the town of Hupari, in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.
The town is known as Maharashtra’s Silver Capital, and its silver industry began in 1904, according to a local industry association.
Many women craft jewellery from their homes, making items such as anklets, toe rings and waistbands, while men generally handle heavier factory work.
Hupari is a major Indian producer of seamless silver ghungroos, the small beads used in traditional anklets, and its products supply buyers across India and abroad.
The trade gives women a route to financial independence, as the experience of 76-year-old artisan Kanchan Katkar shows.
Katkar stayed unmarried to care for her parents and says her work helped her live on her own terms.
The account gives no specific next step for the industry or its workers.
Women make up 60-70% of Hupari’s 25,000-strong silver artisan workforce, often doing finishing work from home.
The industry generates an annual turnover of ₹1,000 crore and supplies jewellery across India and abroad.
Men typically handle factory tasks such as melting silver, while women assemble and finish ornaments.
Hupari is known for producing seamless silver ghungroos, as well as anklets, toe rings and waistbands.
Artisan Kanchan Katkar says the trade gave her and other women a foundation for economic self-reliance.
- Who
- Women artisans in Hupari, including 76-year-old Kanchan Katkar.
- What
- Women’s home-based work helps sustain Hupari’s silver industry by making and finishing ornaments.
- When
- The industry began in 1904, according to a publication by the Chandi Karkhandar Association. Katkar has worked in the trade for decades.
- Where
- Hupari, in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.
- Why
- The work contributes to the silver trade and gives women a source of income and economic self-reliance.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The silver industry began in Hupari, according to a publication by the Chandi Karkhandar Association.
Kanchan Katkar was among the few girls in Hupari who completed school.
Katkar has worked in the silver industry, fitting ghungroos to chain loops.
- Annual turnover
- ₹1,000 crore
- Artisan workforce
- 25,000 people
- Women’s share of workforce
- 60-70%
- Town population
- About 40,000 people
- Silver-business owners
- About 4,000 members of the Chandi Karkhandar Association
1 source
What people are saying
I have been doing this for decades and will continue to do this as long as I am able
Why should only a son bear the responsibility of caring for ageing parents?
Why can’t daughters?
For any woman seeking autonomy and control over her own life and resources, the very first step is economic self-reliance.