SH. ^.RE OF WAGES A: CASHEW TAIND MATERIAL GO INDUSTRY $LE IIIST IN TOTAL COS^ ' IN CASHEW ] 39[NDUSTRY Wage cost as Establishment Raw nut cost in- Profit as per- Percentage of Tear percentage of cost as percentage cluding transport centage of profit to total total cost of total cost cost as percentage total cost wage cost of total cost 1953 24.71 23.37 51.92 121.85 493.0 1960 14.01 11 28 74.71 9.39 67.0 1965 16.83 11 66 71.51 8.87 52.7 1957 17.95 7.80 74.25 7.50 41.8 1975 30.14 5.82 64.01 15.36 51.0 1978 22.20 5.55 72.25 41.55 187.2 From the total cost of processing 100 bags of cashew nuts (eight tons) per day and total sale proceeds which would be accruing from the sale of the output, one can easily estimate the margin of profit enjoyed by the industry. The profit margin [in 1953 was Rs4811. It declined to Rs 895 in 1960. Since then profits have substantially increased, reaching Rs 19056 per 100 bags of cashew nuts. The percentage increase in profit over 1953 works out to 296 giving an annual rate of increase of 11.84 percent. The fact that the industry could produce substantial profits despite increases in wage cost and material cost of production shows that market prospects for the industry are still bright. The justification for the current trend of shifting the industry from Kerala to neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is said to be the relatively lower wages prevailing in these states. This means that the margin of profit could be increased still more by keeping wages low which, in other words, means stepping up the rate of exploitation. In the light of the above analysis the problems of the cashew industry seem to be as follows: The industry increasingly depends on imported nuts. The cost of nuts lias substantially increased. Wage cost has also increased but by less than the raw nut cost. The market prospects have been generally very bright and the profit margin is substantial. The argument that high wage rates in Kerala have killed the prospects of the industry seems to be baseless. In the present study the wage cost was estimated on the basis of minimum wages. Though minimum wages have been introduced, only a small section of the working people in the industry get these rates. This means that all those cashew capitalists who pay less