Chicken shops shut across Hyderabad over margin crisis, traders launch indefinite strike

Chicken shops across Hyderabad are closed from April 1, 2016, indefinitely as traders strike over unsustainable margins and demand government intervention.

Shiva walked towards a neighbourhood chicken shop in HMT Nagar lane, Habsiguda, on Tuesday (April 1, 2026) morning, only to find its shutter down despite it being 11 a.m. Expecting the shop to be open, he checked with a nearby bike servicing outlet, where he was pointed to a banner hanging outside.

“My relatives who live in Gachibowli are coming to visit us today and we thought we would cook chicken for them. I was not aware of the strike. Just yesterday, while coming back home from the office, I saw the shop having a busy line of customers,” he said.

A chicken shop in Mallapur remains shut on April 1 as part of an indefinite strike called by the Telangana State Chicken Shop Owners Association over low profit margins. | Photo Credit: Siddharth Kumar Singh

Shiva’s experience was echoed across several parts of the city, as chicken shops were shut in response to an indefinite strike called by the Telangana State Chicken Shop Owners Association. The protest centres on what traders describe as unsustainable margins due to prices dictated by poultry integrator companies.

“With margins this low, even basic costs are becoming difficult to manage. Over the past month, business has been extremely tough, and many of us have been operating at a loss. That is why we decided to shut our shops and join the strike,” said Raju, a chicken shop owner from Nacharam.

He added that while the shutdown would impact their incomes, traders were participating for a broader cause. “Many of us depend on this business to run our households, so we will face losses. But this is for a larger cause that will benefit thousands and lakhs of shop owners,” he said.