Growing Economic Shadows Over Telangana’s Granite Industry

A perfect storm of geopolitical tension and mounting expenses has brought the state’s storied stone sector to a standstill, leaving thousands of workers in limbo.

The industrial landscape of northern Telangana is undergoing a painful transformation as the granite trade faces a period of intense instability. Once a thriving engine of local commerce, the sector is now witnessing growing uncertainty, with the iconic Karimnagar region—famed for its Tan Brown and other premium stone varieties—at the epicenter of the downturn.

A Sector Under Pressure

For workers like Rajendra Mohanty, a 42-year-old migrant from Odisha, the current climate is a far cry from the stability he expected when he arrived in Kamanpur over a decade ago. Today, the reality of the factory floor is stark. With export markets in China and the Middle East faltering, unsold inventory is piling up. The slowdown, fueled by global geopolitical frictions and a sharp increase in fuel costs, has created a ripple effect that is squeezing everyone from quarry operators to the laborers who rely on daily wages.

The statistics highlight the severity of the situation. While the region is home to hundreds of quarries and processing units, official data indicates that only about 25 percent of licensed quarries are currently operating at full capacity. This decline in output is directly tied to the rising prices of imported raw materials, which have made the production of polished slabs increasingly expensive, even as international demand remains tepid.

Life on the Edge

The crisis has moved beyond the ledger books and into the daily lives of the workforce. As LPG prices climb and supply issues persist, many laborers have been forced to return to cooking over firewood. Mohanty notes that the exodus of workers has already begun; at his own facility, nearly half of the migrant staff have packed their bags and headed back to their home states, unable to sustain themselves amidst the industry’s contraction.

Regional Reach

The impact of this downturn is not limited to a single district. The granite belt, which stretches across Karimnagar, Warangal, and Khammam, is suffering as a whole. While Karimnagar has long been the face of the industry, thanks to its globally recognized granite deposits like Maple Red and Blue Brown, the premium black granite hubs in Khammam and Warangal are also feeling the heat. With many units forced to scale down their operations or reduce their manpower, the future of thousands of families across Telangana remains precarious. As the industry waits for export markets to stabilize, the current stagnation serves as a sobering reminder of how vulnerable local manufacturing can be to shifts in the global economy.