Located in a corner of Baba Nagar colony in Hyderabad’s Mallapur area is Tawakkal Chicken and Mutton Market. While people move in and out of the shop, they also notice a banner which has been hung outside the shop which has a notice written in Telugu.
The notice, attributed to the Telangana State Chicken Shop Owners Association, reads: “Chicken traders are falling victim to the tyranny of poultry companies that do not give us margin. This has led us to a situation where we cannot do business without profits. In protest of this, we are closing our shops from April 1 indefinitely until the reduced margin is corrected. Please cooperate.”
Inside the shop, processing the chicken is Rahman, who explains the situation: “For every kilogram we sell, we hardly make anything now. Earlier, we used to get around ₹20 to ₹30 per kg. Now it has come down to ₹5 or ₹10. Some days, there is no margin at all,” he says, pausing briefly between customers.
For small retailers like Rahman, this margin is not profit in the conventional sense. It is the amount left after buying chicken from poultry suppliers and selling it to customers, from which all expenses must be met. Rent, electricity, labour and transport are all paid from this narrow gap.
