Mysore Paints is the world's oldest and most distinguished manufacturer of voter marking liquid. And it's boom time as election officers dab a full line, and not just a dot, on your finger
Mysore Paints is the world's oldest and most distinguished manufacturer of voter marking liquid. And it's boom time as election officers dab a full line, and not just a dot, on your finger
A paint company in Mysore is working overtime to supply indelible ink for the elections.
Demand has gone up two and a half times since the last parliamentary elections, thanks to more voters, and a guideline for polling officers to dab a full line, and not just a dot, on your finger.
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In 2004, India's electoral rolls covered 67 crore voters. This time, the number has risen to 71.4 crore.
India's election authorities buy all their ink from this company. This time, Uttar Pradesh has placed the largest order for 2.86 lakh bottles, while the Lakshadweep administration has requested just 120 bottles. Supplies have already reached some states.
Boomtime biz
No one outside the company knows how the ink is made. Mysore Paints keeps the composition a secret because sharing it could mean elections are rigged.
This time, business is booming more than expected because election officers have been instructed to draw a long line on your nail, instead of just dabbing a dot, like they used to earlier.
The long line means higher consumption of indelible ink, and that's good for the company's bottom line. Its orders have gone up two and a half times from the last elections?
The company supplies 20 lakh bottles of 10 ml each this time as against 16 lakh bottles of 5 ml each in 2004.
Ten years into business, Msyore Paints was taken over by the state government in 1947. It started making indelible ink in 1962.
Glass to plastic
The composition of the ink remains the same, but the packaging has changed.
Earlier, the company used to lose about 15 per cent of its supplies to breakage because it used glass phials.
Since 1979, it uses plastic containers, and leakage has fallen to about 1 per cent.
The ink's compound was developed by the National Physical Laboratory, Delhi, and patented by the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC).
The company exports its ink to countries across the world. Afghanistan is a customer, but last time it was unhappy because it said the ink wasn't as indelible as it ought to have been.
Mysore Paints officials explain that was because that country's officials used marker pens meant for paper, instead of indelible ink.
This year, the company exported its ink to Ghana, Mangolia, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa and the Maldives.
Dip dip dip
Here's how other countries mark their voters with indelible ink.
Cambodia, Maldives: Dip finger in ink bottle.
Turkey: Drop through a nozzle.
Afghanistan: Use marker pens.
Think ink
Mysore Paints' turnover in 2008-09 was Rs 11 crore from non-ink products, and Rs 15.5 crore from indelible ink.
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