Bengaluru Agarbatti Incense Stick Making

Bengaluru and surrounding districts of Karnataka are the largest agarbatti (incense stick) production centre in India, accounting for over 60 percent of national output. The city produces both raw agarbatti (unscented sticks exported for overseas fragrance coating) and finished scented sticks. The core production involves rolling a bamboo stick in a charcoal-jigat (binder from litsea cubeba bark) paste to form the raw stick. Women of Bengaluru and Mysuru form the workforce — an estimated 5 lakh women roll agarbatti in homes and small workshops. The Karnataka Agarbathi Manufacturers Association coordinates the sector. Raw sticks are exported to Vietnam, China, and the USA for fragrance coating. The GI for Bengaluru agarbatti is under application. Income supplementation through home-based rolling employs the largest number of urban poor women workers in Karnataka.