N. Ramakrishnan

Chennai , Oct. 25

FOR the nearly two dozen picture framers on Devaraja Mudali Street, business has become highly competitive. Once the centre of the picture framing trade in the city - and a few decades back for the entire South - their business has now to contend with similar establishments that have come up in different parts of the city.

To keep up with competition, the established names in the business have gone in for machines to do the job, in the bargain reducing the number of workers. Rents on the road are high, but that has not deterred smaller - most of them one-man outfits - framing shops from coming up.

Apart from this, there are the galleries that have also been opened that attract the younger, upwardly mobile clientele.

Even the established names on Devaraja Mudali Street have opened galleries in other parts of Chennai.

R. Ramanujiah & Son, which was established in 1901, has a gallery in T. Nagar, while R. Ethirajiah & Sons, which was also set up in the early 1900s, has only a nominal presence in Parry's and instead has two galleries elsewhere - in T. Nagar and Anna Nagar, two major and growing residential and commercial centres.

Says Mr R. Ramanujam of R. Ramanujiah & Son, the business has undergone a major transformation in the last few years. There is increased mechanisation now - the frames and cardboards are cut using hydraulic machines and joined using pneumatic machines. "This has resulted in perfection as well as neat finish," he says.

Besides, instead of wood, most of the frames are of synthetic material with different colour foils, according to Mr Ramanujam.

He as well as Mr Hari Gopal of D. Ramaiah Chetty & Sons, a firm that has been in business since 1939, believes that the supremacy of Devaraja Mudali Street as far as the picture framing trade goes will remain for some more time. Their reason is that all those with establishments in other parts of the city, have to come to this area for their requirement of glass, frames and cardboards. Add the cost of transportation and overheads, the cost of framing a picture will be almost double than that in other parts of the city, they say.

Other reasons given by them for their optimism is the variety on offer - frames in wood, metal and synthetic material - with the larger shops stocking up to 400 varieties. And, the range of colours is unlimited.

However, according to Mr Subba Rao of R. Ethirajiah & Sons competition is so intense in Parry's and infrastructure to carry on retail trade so woefully inadequate that Devaraja Mudali Street is no longer an attractive location to do business. So much so that Ethirajiah & Sons has only a marginal presence on that road - more to deal with its regular clients and to have a presence in the area where the business started.

For the established names, the business is being run by the third generation while over the last decade and a half, new shops have been set up by first generation entrepreneurs. The smaller shops specialise in framing pictures of gods and goddesses, with decorative lights and music and hymns included as part of the package.

Mr Ramanujam traces the origin of the picture framing business in the area to the presence of the glass business also on the same road. His grandfather, who started the firm, used glass imported from England and frames from Italy and Belgium.

Over the years, the business has changed so much that machines are widely used. For instance, says Mr Hari Gopal, an establishment that employed five persons, needs only two now with machines used in cutting and joining.

Frames made of wood have given way to synthetic ones - imported from Korea and China, and from Delhi and Mumbai, say the shop owners.

For the smaller shops on the road, competition, they say, is not something to worry about and they have to face it. A shop owner points to the steady throng and says that as long as this crowd visits Parry's every day, they need not have to worry about business.

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