The story
Khurja in Bulandshahr district is one of North India's main pottery towns, and local accounts trace the craft back to the time of Feroz Shah Tughlaq. Its blue-glazed decorative pottery became famous first, and later the town added crockery, electrical insulators and sanitaryware made in kilns. Most units are small and medium firms that buy clay and glaze materials from other states and sell across North India.
In numbers
Bulandshahr district has around 350 units in the pottery industry; in the Khurja pottery cluster about 300 units make stoneware and bone china crockery, HT and LT insulators, sanitary wares, decorative wares and chemical porcelain.
ODOP Uttar Pradesh project report: Ceramic Crockery Set Manufacturing (Bulandshahr)
GI tag
- Khurja PotteryApplication no. GI Application No. 178; Registration No. 219GI Registry, IP India - Application 178: Khurja Pottery
Ways in for a newcomer
- Kiln services and glazing as job work
- Hand-painted and custom-printed crockery for hotels and cafes
- Online sales of planters, mugs and decor pottery
- Supplying ceramic colours, moulds and packing material
Problems the cluster faces
- High fuel and gas cost for kilns
- Competition from Chinese crockery and large factory brands
- Old kilns and uneven quality
- Shortage of trained designers and decorators
Businesses to start here
Ceramic Tableware (Stoneware and Earthenware) →Ceramic Art Ware →Porcelain Electrical Insulator Manufacturing →Ceramic Washbasin (Sanitaryware) →Ceramic Colours (Stains and Frit) →Clay Crockery and Ovenware →