The Indian tattoo industry has been growing immensely in the past few years, on the road to passing some artistes abroad. Mickey Milani has done various temporary tattoo jobs in cinema for stars such as Anushka Sharma and Aamir Khan and co-owns Bodycanvas Tattoos with Vikas Malani. The tattoo artiste recently told IANS, "India has grown really fast in the last 3-4 years in the tattooing industry and the quality of work that we have been doing has given some artistes abroad a run for their money."
The only problem standing in the way is hygiene. "Hygiene is a big concern when it comes to the tattooing world in India. My assumption is that there are about 20-30 percent of the people who go for studios which maintain very high standards. However, we still have a large number of small studios; places that don't look into the basics of tattooing."
Malani mentions that the country does not have set standards on hygiene and training for studios to follow, like many countries abroad. And the few rules and regulations that do exist are often ignored, such as tattooing those that are underage or intoxicated.
"It's really disheartening that some artistes are really choosing to do tattoos for people who are under-age. There are people who come drunk to the studio and we have to tell them "no". Why? Because they might be under the influence of alcohol or any other sort of substance that might influence their decision. And in terms of safety... your blood thins after you have alcohol. That could create problems like excess bleeding or delay the healing process afer tattooing. That's something that we really need to consider," Malani added.