Agartala: “If necessity is the mother of invention, then adversity must surely be the Father of re-invention,” said artist Johnny Flora. Rohit Bhattarcjee, a 22-year-old from Dharamnagar, North district, Tripura, would agree.
When the entire world was grappling with the global pandemic and struggling to make ends meet, Bhattacharjee decided to take action. He wanted to employ many in Mahaprabhu Sarani area in Dharmanagar but had little money. So, instead of running around banks to take a loan to set up a big business, he sold his only asset—his motorbike—and used the money to set up a LED bulb manufacturing unit.
And there is a lovely reason behind why Bhattarcharjee picked LED bulbs. “My dream has been to illuminate every single house in Tripura at an affordable price, and I have been working over this project for long. I started surfing over the internet and reading books to understand how to manufacture LED bulbs at a low cost. Finally, in February, I have set up the unit here at my residence,” Bhattacharjee told EastMojo.
With an amount of Rs 1 lakh in hand, Bhattacharjee decided to set up the manufacturing unit in a 12×24 room with some manufacturing materials, a punching machine, and a cap-fitting machine to manufacture LED bulbs.
Bhattacharjee started with two persons. Now, he has a full team of workers, including two women. Currently, Bhattacharjee employs eight persons who are working under his project, including skilled workers, electricians and a manager to look after the work.
Among the workers, three of them joined Rohit after returning home from Bangalore when they lost their job in the pandemic.
“We are manufacturing around 700 LED bulbs each day. One person can manufacture around 100 bulbs a day, and they earn Rs 4 for each assembled bulb. All of them earn about Rs 12,000 – Rs 15,000 each month. We are selling a single bulb at Rs 65 in the market,” Rohit said.
Rohit’s mother, Jayashree Goswami, a retired government employee, said her son always had an interest in reading about low-cost LED bulb manufacturing processes.
“We were not sure what Rohit was planning until he decided to set up the manufacturing unit during the time of pandemic when people needed work. He has tried to help people within his capacity, and we are proud of him”, Goswami said.
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With Rohit’s success and quality of the product being accepted in the local market, individuals and retailers from nearly markets of Dharmanagar, Panisagar in North district and Kumarghat and Kailashahar under Unakoti district have started contacting Rohit to place their orders.
“I am receiving a good response from people and orders have started coming from different places in Tripura, including capital city Agartala”, Rohit added.
Rohit, the chairman of RB Illuminations is hopeful that people would continue placing their orders and he would expand his business providing employment to more people from his locality in future.