SPECIAL STORY

The recent spread of COVID-19 and the following lockdown have shaken the Indian industry as never before. Even the wars between India & Pakistan and India & China did not affect the industry that much. Closely following these ground-shaking events is the clash between India and China over border-related issues. Unlike in 1962, today, for 80% of tech components, raw materials, products, etc India depends on China. India has already banned imports of some electrical and telecom products from China and also some Chinese projects have been closed. Imports of imaging products have not yet been banned, but the apprehension that the Indian government may impose extra taxes on importing imaging products from China looms large.  Can the Indian imaging industry get going without imports from China? Can Indian entrepreneurs can Make In India, the products which we currently import from China? Can the Indian industry look for alternative sources like Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, etc. To find answers to this question, Imaging Solution sought opinions from the key players in the imaging industry, which we share with our readers in this magazine.

Can India manage without importing from China?

Pramod Rajpal, ProDot, “Yes, the recent strained relationships between India and China have disturbed the normal rhythm of imports from China and have in turn diverted the focus towards indigenously manufactured goods. It has certainly impacted business operations for the manufacturing sector in India because now we’re made think of manufacturing the same things in India. Importers too now have to explore other countries for the same materials.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company (PSC), “Almost 95% of the imaging consumables and components are imported from China, and less than 5% are locally manufactured. Even the locally assembled laser toner cartridges use 100% Chinese-made components. As of now, there has been NO BAN on imports of imaging consumables and components from China; there is only an informal and undeclared delay at the Indian ports in clearing imports from CHINA and insistence on 100% inspection of containers, which is also being relaxed. All these restrictions make the Indian customers who import losers, as NOT the Chinese exporters. There is no effective choice for Indian entrepreneurs. We hope soon the business will be back to normal. The Indian government has acted appropriately so far to protect Indian interests. Though no ban has been imposed on imports of imaging consumables and components from China, the Indian government has stated that it strongly supports MADE IN INDIA to promote ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT. To help buyers choose easily, MADE IN INDIA products are listed now in a separate section and the country of origin will be prominently displayed… (China-made printer consumables including toner cartridges, however, are NOT banned or prohibited).”

Masood Khan, Image King, “Still India’s Covid-19 infection rate is very high and it is at present the second most infected in the world. The consequent lockdown has affected both the lives and businesses. As per the international and domestic data, the import of toner cartridges has decreased significantly post-lockdown though it has started picking up recently. In India, we don’t have the right manufacturing facilities to make OPC drums, blades, PCR, MR, empty shells, etc. Only two companies in India are manufacturing toner powders but even these companies import most of the raw materials from China. Coming to supporting the government, I wish all Indians should stand with the government to fight against any country which is trying to occupy our land. We should support the anti-dumping duty on toner powder and stand united to impose a ban on the import of Chinese products. But our priorities at this moment are to protect the country from Covid-19 and then generate investments to build infrastructure, plants & machinery, technology, and raw materials. This will take several years post-COVID-19. Immediate implementation of the unofficial ban on Chinese imports is causing major hardships to all the importers. In this case, Indian businessmen are the ultimate sufferers, who are burdened by paying unexpected port detention charges on containers. Due to this, all the overseas container companies are benefitted by way of advance payments against the supplies and the Chinese are least affected. Also, there is a loss to the government of India by way of delays in remittances of customs duty and GST. In my opinion, our government should have taken planned actions in a way that would benefit both the Indian businesses and the government.”

Rohit Shah of Jet Tec Info-Consumables, “As a result of the recent developments, there are going to be some challenges while importing goods from China. Initially, it will affect the supply chain for some time as the nation has just started opening up businesses that were closed until recently. So there is a challenge for most industry players while planning their purchases and sales. The nation comes first. So, I will not question the steps taken by the government. Rather, I will think about how we can address this situation. At JET TEC, we always believe that whenever there is adversity, there is an opportunity. This difficult situation has made all of us Indians think and look for long-term alternatives.”

Shashank Ruiwale of Indigo Prints, “The current crisis should motivate the local industry to get into manufacturing. Imports are now getting difficult, but I think it will give impetus to local manufacturing. Anyway, it is good to know that DPIT (Department for Promotion of Internal Trade) is active on identifying products for the local manufacturing and has already started sincere interactions with the industry associations to frame policies to support local manufacturing.”

Gaurav Khetterpal, Greenlam, “India is heavily dependent on imports for imaging consumables majorly from China. However, the recent tensions between the two countries have escalated a discussion on whether to allow imports from China or not. There has been no such ban on imports by our government as of now, but they are getting stricter on importing the imaging consumables and other products in order to boost the local manufacturing and reduce over-dependency on China and other countries. Due to this reason and recent pandemic, the business operations the small and medium-size business in India has been severely affected. The Indian government has decided to review all the imports from China, by giving them a clear message not to indulge in any unfair practices and make India a dumping ground for low quality and cheap products. In the coming months, we will see major disruptions related to imports such as levying anti-dumping duty, mandatory BIS, etc to encourage manufacturing in India. The government is already planning to impose anti-dumping duty on imports from China, Malaysia, and Taiwan, which is not a good sign for our industry. This will make local refilling more uncompetitive and less profitable for hundreds of refillers who will be forced to shut businesses as customers will shift to new compatible cartridges.”

Tarun Gupta, Goel Imports, “As of now there is no ban on imports from China, but speculations are rife about a ban. As far as manufacturing in India is concerned, Indian entrepreneurs have the capability to manufacture domestically, but it needs time and lot of dedication.”

Anil Aggarwal, Pana Corporation, “So far the government has not imposed any ban on importing imaging products from China. However, even if the Indian government bans imports from and exports to China, talking from point of view of our own company, we will still stay strong since only 10% of our imports and exports are from and to China. We also have alternative sources for importing the necessary products.”

Aryan Goel of Aryan Trade World Pvt Ltd (ATWPL), “As of now, we have not seen any impact of the ongoing frictions between India and China on the import of imaging industry products. Anyway, imposing heavy duties or banning imports from China will be unviable, because in India we don’t have such a mature manufacturing infrastructure to replace the imports from China.”

Dhruv Mahajan of Zhuhai FAST and RT Media Regional Partner of India, shares, “As for the aftermarket imaging consumables, 95% is imported and only some bulk toner is made in India. Even for bulk toners, the manufacturers in India use imported raw materials (from countries like China, Japan, etc) as they are preferred over locally made raw materials. Also, the government is not going to ban imports from China or any other country being WTO signatory. However, the govt wants to encourage Made in India products under the Atmanirbhar Bharat. It’s going to take at least two years before local production rises to the expected levels. The government has not officially banned imports, but the overzealous port and customs officers are delaying the release of shipments from China unofficially. This has hurt the manufacturers, both MSME and MNCs, and damaged our national image as a preferred destination for foreign investment.”

Sandeep Sanghvi of Itone, “As far as I know, there is no ban on imports at the moment, but there are delays in clearing the shipments coming in from China. What we do know at present is that there could be some anti-dumping duty on mono toners. Any steps taken by the Indian government in the national interest are commendable and supported by us all.”

Gaurav Khetterpal of Growlam, “In my opinion, it will be difficult to manufacture cartridges without external support, because we need to match the quality standards in order to sell our products, so technical collaborations would be required with overseas suppliers so that the desired quality can be achieved. The parts required to manufacture a cartridge are also imported, so we need to produce the right quality domestically which needs a lot of systemic changes.”

Gaurav Jinturkar of Splashjet, “In the short-run, the industry will definitely face some challenges due to restrictions on imports from China, but we feel that it will open a window of opportunity for the domestic manufacturers and that will lead to self-reliance. We, at Splashjet, as an inkjet inks manufacturer, are hardly dependent on imported consumables. As a part of the industry, it’s our fundamental duty to stand by the government and rise to the occasion. While the outright ban is debatable, we have to prepare ourselves for self-sufficiency.”

B B Somani, Gloima, Pune, “First of all let me make it clear that the Indian government has not banned imports of raw materials from any country, but anti-dumping duties have been levied on imports from China and Malaysia and started 100% inspection of all the shipments from China. There is nothing wrong with government levying anti-dumping duties to protect the domestic industry. Every country follows this norm which is allowed by WTO.”

Deepesh Patel of Jet Technologies, “Government is considering anti-dumping duty on the import of mono toners, but has not yet finalized or announced. India as of now cannot do away with imports from China because most products and components have to come from China.”

Can India locally manufacture the necessary imaging consumables without external support?

Masood Khan, Image King, “India is capable of manufacturing many things. The best example is we manufacture our own rockets, missiles, and most of our defense equipment within India. Manufacturing toner cartridges, parts, and toner powders are not rocket science, but it takes some time for the local manufacturing ecosystem to gear up to that level.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of PSC, “To put it frankly, the Indian manufacturers  CAN NOT successfully compete with Chinese exporters of aftermarket printer consumables in terms of product quality, range, speed of launch of new products, R&D and above all on prices, in the present set of conditions. Low prices are the main priority for 95% of the Indian importers. DO NOTE THAT MAJORITY OF OEM PRINTER CONSUMABLES ARE ALSO MADE IN CHINA… Indian entrepreneurs to successfully make toner cartridges and printer consumables in India under the ATMANIRBHAR INDIA and MADE IN INDIA have to necessarily partner with one of the Chinese manufacturers. So a total ban on imports from China is impossible.”

Anil Aggarwal of Pana Corporation, “Talking from the general perspective, as far as domestic manufacturing is concerned, Indian labor, though cheap is not yet skilled enough to develop products of international standards and secondly there is a shortage of raw materials and components in India. We need a lot of changes in the domestic infrastructure and the labor ecosystem before making India a self-reliant manufacturer. So the idea of total domestic manufacturing is still a far off cry in India. To become self-reliant, we also need determination from the Indian businessmen to purchase only Made in India products, but unfortunately, most Indians lack such as a spirit.”

Rohit Shah, Jet Tec Info-Consumables, “As far as the question ‘whether we can locally manufacture cartridges and other consumables in India or not?’ is concerned, my answer is a definite Yes. Whether one needs external support or not depends on which product one tries to manufacture in India. Of course, external help will make things work faster and smoother.”

Dhruv Mahajan of Zhuhai FAST and RT Media Regional Partner of India, “No, the Indian manufacturers are not strong enough to compete successfully against Chinese exporters on quality, patents and above all price which is the main priority for most Indian importers today. Also, the India imaging industry is scattered with too many players with no dominant domestic player.  Local manufacturing in India will be feasible only when at least one top global leader starts manufacturing in India preferably in association with a local player.”

Sandeep Sanghvi, Itone, “Yes, the local manufacturing of imaging consumables is possible, but it essentially needs the government support. And it is necessary that such manufacturing should offer quality which is competitive globally. Some imaging consumables are high technology items that require precision and technical expertise. Currently, the Indian manufacturing industry is at a nascent stage and joint ventures with foreign players backed with government support could speed up the process. For example, 35 years back China was in the infant stages of manufacturing, but in the last three decades with tremendous support from their government in technical and financial aspects China has transformed into a global manufacturing hub.”

Gaurav Khetterpal, “Honestly speaking, at the moment, the pricing and quality of the India-made products cannot be matched with those being imported from  China. There are no immediate alternate sources for China at the moment. There are some other sources but their imaging consumable products would be too expensive. We need to explore other less expensive sources like Vietnam and try to source these products which are as efficient as those of China.”

Gaurav Jinturkar of Splashjet, “The growth of manufacturing in India will be a step-by-step, long-term process, just as it happened in China. Indeed, we are very much capable of becoming a manufacturing giant over time.”

Anoop of Blackdots, “The dispute between India and China has not affected our imports so far, and we hope the positive situation will continue. We in fact love to purchase from the Indian manufacturers, but unfortunately, the Indian ecosystem is still not advanced enough to domestically manufacture imaging products with the expected quality at reasonable prices. There are a few domestic manufacturers in India, but their quality is still inconsistent and below standards, compared to what we can get from China. It will take several years before India could rise to the levels of China when it comes to manufacturing. So currently, we have no option other than importing from China.”

Asit Choksi of PTDL, “India has the capacity to become a global manufacturing hub, but it needs determination on the part of manufacturers, the government and then the buyers. Our goal should be to develop in steps a domestic manufacturing system, and then improve it further to become a global manufacturing hub.”

B B Somani of Gloima, “Yes, Indians can very well manufacture cartridges and other consumables provided they change their mindset from local to global. This is the basic and fundamental difference in the approach between Indians and Chinese. Indians are more intelligent and honest but think only from the local market point of view.”

Deepesh Patel of Jet Technologies, “Regarding mono toner powder in India, there are already 3 factories which are providing good mono toner for HP laser printers but when it comes to toner powder for Samsung, Brother and Kyocera printers, importers still need to source from China or other countries. In terms of components like OPC drums, blades and other consumables even the Japanese and Korean companies have their manufacturing plants in China because of cheaper labor and better manufacturing infrastructure. The current Indian manufacturing system is not mature enough to manufacture the products domestically and it will take several years to become self-reliant in manufacturing technology products.”

Prashant Bhansali of HCR Info Consumables, “Govt has imposed special anti-dumping duty on importing mono toners which made them about 15% costlier, but on cartridges, drums, etc they have not yet imposed extra duty. The government should first develop the manufacturing infrastructure in India, before imposing extra duties. Without taking such measures, imposing duties blindly can only increase the cost of products because we in India are totally dependent on imports from China.”

Shashank Ruiwale of Indigo Prints, “The answer is Yes and No. We need large investments and a powerful drive to make India a manufacturing hub that could commercially compete with China. This needs strong support from the government in terms of capital subsidy and developing the infrastructure.”

Can India depend on overseas sources as alternatives to China for importing imaging consumables?

Pramod Rajpal of ProDot, “Yes, due to import restrictions from countries such as China, importers are now looking for alternate sources to buy their goods—finished goods or raw materials. Alternate countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia etc are now emerging as suppliers for imaging consumables.  ProDot is also looking for new suppliers, domestically and internationally.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of PSC, “It’s NOT possible to depend on other alternative overseas vendors, as other countries (such as Japan, Taiwan, etc) too are not totally independent, but depend on Chinese components. Next, the OPC drums, bulk toners, etc made by the Japanese and Korean manufacturers are too expensive.  So we have NO CHOICE but to continue to import from CHINA.”

Masood Khan of Image King, “There are only a few toner powder manufacturing units outside China who can provide us imaging consumables of required quality and quantity, but their prices are too high due to higher labor and manufacturing costs. Their production capacity is also too low and very difficult to meet India’s large consumption and demand. So, China remains the prime source at the moment.”

Anil Aggarwal of Pana Corporation, “Ours is the only company which imports only 10% from China but exports 90% to China. We import from and also export to several other countries globally. So even if the Indian government imposes restrictions on imports from or exporting to China, our company is not affected and we are strongly positioned and highly independent.”

Rohit Shah of Jet Tec, “To be honest, there are limited alternative overseas sources to China, for imaging consumables. Japan and European countries can provide all the products that we need, but our traders and customers cannot afford to pay such high prices.”

Dhruv Mahajan of Zhuhai FAST and RT Media Regional Partner of India, “The global imaging consumables and components industry are China-centric and China is the dominant source for all components for the buyers in most other countries. That makes importing import imaging consumables (or even components) from other countries sources costly, infeasible, uncompetitive, and foolhardy particularly in our extremely price-sensitive market, as thousands of importers sell only on low price. To some extent, only the Japanese OEM bulk toner factories can supply to India under Indo-Japanese free trade agreement but they too are 25-30% costlier than China-made bulk toners.”

Sandeep Sanghvi of Itone, “Yes, we can depend on other alternative overseas sources for imaging consumables and itone is already dealing with alternative overseas sources. If the Indian brands stand for high quality and do not focus only on selling at a low price, then alternative sources will work.”

Gaurav Jinturkar of Splashjet, “It’s difficult but not impossible. There are a few destinations like Korea which may present themselves as viable alternatives.”

Tarun Gupta of Goel Imports, “As far as the alternative sources for imports like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc are concerned, we can go for them but we have to pay higher prices.”

Asit Choksi of PTDL, “We have already shifted to importing from Japan and we have no problem with shifting.”

B B Somani of Gloima, “Yes… there are many alternative sources like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc. Previously these countries used to have a major market share of raw materials. China took over that share during the last few decades driven by the advantage of low-cost manufacturing and high-government support.”

Shashank Ruiwale of Indigo Prints, “China has made huge advances in the last 30 years in manufacturing and emerged as a leading global provider. So it is not financially feasible for us to source from other countries at present. Come what may, we have to depend on China.”

Does the new scenario drive India to become a global level manufacturing hub?

Pramod Rajpal of ProDot, “Yes, the new scenario of ‘Go vocal for local’ would certainly help India. This is the right time for local manufacturers in India to grow and supply. There is a positive enthusiasm in the air to support Indian manufactured goods. India has the right resources in terms of manpower and skillsets. Surely, India can emerge as a global manufacturer, not only in the field of imaging consumables but also in other fields and sectors. A collective measure by all of us would lead to India standing on its feet and become Aatmanirbhar.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of PSC, “The current sentiment and government policy encourage local manufacturing and the best way to do it successfully is to partner with global leaders and build global-scale factories in India. This has been successfully done for long by several automobile manufacturers, an example of such a partnership is Maruti-Suzuki. Samsung is another company that is successful in this strategy for manufacturing mobiles in India and the software majors including IBM have done this too. They can take advantage of the incentives provided by the government and low-labor costs in India.”

Masood Khan of Image King, “It is time we Indians wake up and work hard to build New India. In the last three decades, China has invested a lot in manufacturing facilities and succeeded in becoming a global source. We cannot deny the fact that we Indians are lazy and are conditioned to import easily available finished goods from China. But now we need to turn to manufacture, work hard, and support our government’s goal of MAKE IN INDIA…”

Anil Aggarwal of Pana Corporation, “In India, over 90% brands and also traders are just interested in importing from abroad, mainly from China, and sell them here; they want things that are cheap and easily available. As long as that attitude does not change, transforming India into a global manufacturing hub would remain a faraway dream.”

Rohit Shah of Jet Tec Info-Consumables, “Indians are known to do things in their own way which others may find unrealistic. Sending a mission to Mars successfully on the first attempt at such a tiny budget is the best example. India is a huge market for cartridges and imaging products and there is a big pool of talent in India. Like many other industries, we might have started late, but we are known to find our own ways to leadership positions faster than most other countries.”

Dhruv Mahajan of Zhuhai FAST and RT Media Regional Partner of India, “For reasons I mentioned above, India will remain dependent on Chinese imports for the next 3-5 years unless the government bans import of imaging consumables which has zero probability of happening. Even OEMs have their bulk toner and toner cartridge factories in China. Moreover, the Indian aftermarket imaging industry is too small to attract the attention of major Indian or MNC companies at present, however, in the future, we could see changes.”

Gaurav Jinturkar of Splashjet, “We need to treat the current scenario as a blessing in disguise. We can definitely be competitive if the companies collaborate and support domestic manufacturing.”

B B Somani of Gloima, “Indians are almost 80% dependent on China, but with some initial support and improved domestic manufacturing ecosystem, Indian entrepreneurs can slowly transform India into a manufacturing hub. Also, Indians need to focus more on R&D.”

Gaurav Khatterpal of Growlam, “Due to this pandemic, the whole world has been affected severely. Many big companies had to close down their businesses. This financial year started with lockdown and is still affecting many and resulting in loss of business. But the lockdown has been a blessing in disguise for us as it made us realize the importance of improving our operations, enhancing our customer service, and identifying the reliable and efficient partners. However, in the present conditions, launching any new plans that involve a lot of investment could backfire. So the present approach is to go basic, control expenses, reduce stock and debtors, hold all the new product launches until market normalizes, and focus on marketing the Growlam brand.”

Prashant Bhansali of HCR Info Consumables, “The same products from alternative sources from Japan, South Korea, etc are costlier than those available in China. So the Indian government should understand these implications before restricting imports or making new policies.”

Sandeep Sanghvi, “As I’ve mentioned earlier, the Make in India policy has always been there even before the current scenario. But India will become a leading global manufacturer of imaging consumables only if we focus on producing items of high quality that are globally competitive. We need the OEMs to start setting up manufacturing bases here. A plus point is our labor costs are quite reasonable. The rising labor costs in other countries like China will give us an edge and then we have a huge local market. The purchasing power of Indian is set to increase boosting the demand further. When you combine these factors, manufacturing in India is definitely an attractive proposition.”

Shashank Ruiwale of Indigo Prints, “I would have liked to say Yes, but it is not practically feasible. Chinese industry has a large manufacturing ecosystem driven by a high degree of backward integration, manufacturing practices, and governmental support. It needs many bold steps by the Indian government to build a system of such scale.”

What new measures are you taking to maintain your business in the current scenario?

Pramod Rajpal of ProDot, “ProDot, like many others, is trying to do its best and keep both its distributors/retailers and end consumers motivated. ProDot recently launched its Swadeshi Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer in May. It is a Swadeshi product assembled in India. ProDot is trying to widen its product portfolio.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of PSC, “Our business has been growing in India despite the pandemic as our business is NOT based on low prices but on high quality, excellent after-sales services, free consultancy /advice and a wide range of products. We have many unique products and dozens of happy and loyal importers who buy from us.”

Anil Aggarwal of Pana Corporation, “Today we export fuser films to China, US, Canada and other countries. Currently, we are one of the few successful manufacturers and exporters in India in our line of products. We have manufacturing plants in Noida and Faridabad. We invest 30% of our profits in R&D and we have the most advanced R&D facilities. We supply to global OEMs and also to some clients in India. We are one of the very few domestic manufacturers in India dedicated to provide global OEM standards. We have already planned and designed two more manufacturing verticals—one for laminators and the other for IR thermometers. We are going to start production in a month or two.”

Gaurav Jinturkar, Splashjet India, “At Splashjet, we have been making sustained efforts to develop key technologies required to manufacture inks. The current scenario is presenting opportunities to commercialize them at a faster pace. We are also seeing increasing opportunities in the export business.”

Rohit Shah of Jet Tec Info-Consumables, “Our strength is our loyal partners across India who have been associated with us for a long time. We have a good understanding of them and that has greatly helped us maintain our business even during this lockdown. So we are not making any major revamp at present. We have fine-tuned our Credit policies looking at the current market scenario to help our partners sustain during this difficult period.”

Aryan Goel of ATWPL, “Business has been down since lockdown though it is slowly picking up now. We will wait and see how the conditions will evolve and then take a call.”

Asit Choksi, CEO, PTDL, “A new initiative we have taken up recently is educating end-users through our partners and technical persons how they can benefit by using the better material and timely replacing the worn-out parts like OPC drum, blades, rollers, etc. Using certain parts beyond their usage limit may save some money in the short-run but will cost more and even damage the machines in the long-run besides delivering poor quality.”

B B Somani of Gloima, “Since the current economic situation is not clear, we are not focusing on new strategies. We will wait and see.”

Prashant Bhansali of HCR Info Consumables, “Our business has started limping back to normal in the last few months, but the new issue of frictions between India and China started affecting our imports and business, unfortunately. We just want to focus on what we have been doing until things settle down.”

Sandeep Sanghvi, “Maintaining strong relationships with our partners has been our first policy, which has helped us to revive fast during post-lockdown. We are also working on improving our IT infrastructure, marketing, and services. We are sure that the imaging industry will be back on track much sooner compared to other industries.”

Tarun Gupta of Goel Imports, “As far as the new marketing and product strategies are concerned, this is not the time to do experiments; we will wait for another 4 months and see how things will evolve.”

To understand the probable economic outcomes and possible interventions, Imaging Solution spoke with  leading vendors of  Indian Imaging Industry  on the current critical situation in India

COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest global humanitarian challenge the world has faced since World War II. The virus has spread widely, and the number of cases is rising daily as governments work to slow its spread. India has moved quickly, implementing a proactive, nationwide lockdown, with the goal of flattening the curve and using the time to plan and resource responses adequately.

The COVID-19 crisis is deepening its impact on the nation and more and more stringent measures are being taken to ensure we fight it out. Addressing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nation-wide lockdown for over a month and urged the citizens to stay home for this period. The government is taking all the necessary steps to fight the current situation and appealed to the citizens of the country to cooperate in the fight against COVID-19.

Many organizations will take some time to find an answer to this situation, but they need to be prepared enough to deal with this crisis. If they believe in themselves, they will be able to sail through. Corporates should take this as an opportunity and navigate cautiously to find a concrete solution.

Along with an unprecedented human toll, COVID-19 has triggered a deep economic crisis. The global economic impact could be broader than any that we have seen since the Great Depression. To understand the probable economic outcomes and possible interventions, Imaging Solution spoke with  leading vendors of  Indian Imaging Industry  on the current critical situation in India

Initiatives  of Vendors  in the context of Covid-19 pandemic

Pramod Rajpal, CEO, ProDot said,  “I appreciate the initiatives, efforts, and timely actions by the government including the lockdown. Looking at the fate of the most developed countries like the USA, we are still at safer levels. Unless we reacted now, it would have been a disaster if the epidemic spread rapidly for a country like India with 1.4 billion population and poor medical infrastructure.”

According to Masood Khan, President, Image Star, “At first let us understand the meaning of quarantine: Quarantine is a word from the Italian language which means 40 days of isolation. It has already been stated in the religious scriptures how to use isolation to overcome a difficult situation. When Italy faced the massive COVID-19 infections, they decided to go for 40-day isolation, a way of quarantine. I appreciate our Prime Minister for having adopted the same for India as a way to save India from this pandemic. In this quarantine period, it is natural that people feel disturbed and disrupted due to lockdown and isolation. So we wanted to avoid any business-related messages to our channel partners as we believed in humanity and relationship. Money is only a byproduct.”

Shashank Ruiwale (President), Indigo Prints Smart Pvt Ltd, said, “Lockdown has been an essential measure by the government, though it has caused severe disruption to everybody in the country. We are using this lockdown time to audit our own system, including evaluating our marketing and channel networks; taking the opinions of our employees and partners;  inquiring with our channel partners about their stock levels and business-related issues; and so on. We are also conducting online training programs for our salespeople. We are optimistic that the situation will improve in May and the India imaging industry will bounce back to its original pace soon after.”

Sharad Midha, President, Sumanglam International, comments, “The lockdown has seriously affected our business. Payments are not coming from the market, but we have to pay to our suppliers abroad. The situation is very bad. But we have to face these irritants for the overall good of the nation.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company opines, “I work for a Chinese MNC which is a global leader in the Imaging industry and here we understand the needs of customers as we have faced the same situation in China earlier… we are understanding and flexible in meeting expectations of our partners and customers in terms of timing for dispatch of shipments of products as per the requirement of stocks and demand and even shipping and customs clearance. We are encouraging customers to add services to their product offerings to make their businesses sustainable and profitable, even in uncertain demand times.”

Ashish Kothari, MD, Jet Tec Info Consumables, comments, “From what we saw in China, we learned about social distancing fairly early and started practicing the same in our organization. All our employees were given masks and were asked to wear them all the time before lockdown came into effect. Salaries of all our employees have been paid without any deductions for non-working days due to this pandemic. Each of our team members, irrespective of their job function, is assured that they are an asset to our organization and the company will stand by them in this difficult time. Whatsapp groups are made especially for spreading the awareness educating the staff on various aspects of Covid 19, the Do’s & Don’ts one must follow to keep themselves & thereby others safe in these difficult times.”

Ajay Mehta, MD, Pristine Care Products, opines, “After the announcement of lockdown, everything has come to a standstill… no business and no financial returns. Some industry unions are trying to negotiate with the government to include imaging consumables into essential IT products list. Let us hope that will work and we will begin working.”

Sandeep Sanghvi, Itone, states, “We are currently working remotely. Safety and well-being of our employees is our immediate concern. And we have taken measures to ensure this.”

Gaurav Khetterpal, Growlam, shares, “Our country is in a very critical situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has struck the world at a time when the economy was already in poor shape. And this pandemic has given us time to think wisely and explore new options of how to take the business forward. We have instructed all our staff and their families to stay indoors, keep social distancing to be safe from this pandemic. Once we open our facility, all the necessary precautions will be taken care of.”

Rajendra Seksaria, Balaji Solutions Ltd, Kolkata, states, “After the imposition of lockdown, all the business operations, and activities have come to a standstill. Things look gloomy as well as scary. We have to pay salaries to employees partly at least and cannot avoid some fixed expenses. Even the government too has been in confusion as to what to do and what not, because checking the spread of COVID-19 is a challenging task. We have to face reality and prepare for the future, keeping the common good of the society in mind.”

“After the lockdown has been announced, our business has come down by 80-85%; now we sell only 10-15% of what we used to before the lockdown was clamped. Now we are supplying on for a few government departments which are still running in lockdown,” concluded, Ankur Singh, Panacea Digital Systems Pvt.Ltd.

Government initiatives to fight COVID-19 crisis

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company states, “Absolutely. The government has been sensitive and is providing relief to the businesses… and banks are responding positively to offer funds. And the industry should take steps mandated by the government to ensure health and safety measures to safeguard the employees and their families…”

Masood Khan of Image King comments, “Yes, we wholeheartedly support the government initiatives. The government is taking many steps to curb this pandemic providing the best preventive and medical facilities. Regarding the migrant laborers, the government could have planned some transport arrangements for them to return to their homes. We see so many laborers stranded and struggling without food and shelter! Regarding support to the industry, the government has announced several schemes and planning many supportive measures. Let us hope they will help the industry.”

Santosh Kumar of Imaging Solutions shares, “Everything is uncertain now but we cannot do anything. The government has done the right thing by announcing lockdown because if COVID-19 infections grew exponentially, we would be in a disastrous situation. Just see how the infections are spreading in the USA and other western European countries.”

Sharad Midha, President, Sumanglam International, states, “We cannot blame the government for announcing overnight lockdown, because the situation in countries like USA, Europe, etc has been horrible with COVID-19 cases reaching lakhs. The free-fall in rupee value against the USD has added further to the owes of the Indian industry.”

Ashish Kothari of Jet Tec shares, “Yes, we totally support the government’s measures of lockdown. In fact, we are fortunate to have a Prime Minister like Narendra Modi at the helm of the affairs in this situation. As it’s said, ‘Prevention is better than cure.’ It is not easy to lock down a huge aspiring country like India having a population of 130 billion people practicing different religions, speaking different languages and having different financial backgrounds and on the top of it ensuring adequate food supplies & safety measures for all.”

“We have to be smart and think out of the box in this situation, as this has happened for the first time, and most of us might not be in that thinking zone of how to move things forward. In our company, we are shortlisting those who have been supporting us with regular orders and making timely payments, since it is better to work with a selective set of customers, choosing Quality over Quantity. We have assigned Work from Home (WFH) to our staff as much as possible and they are keeping busy. Also, we are working on new strategies on how to move the business ahead. We have a good 3 months backup stocks for all products; we are focusing only on cash sales (no credit sales) in order to get the things going forward,” says Gaurav Khetterpal of Growlam.

Sandeep Sanghvi of Itone comments, “The early lockdown initiated by the government was an excellent step in containing the COVID-19. India is doing extremely well compared to developed countries. The decisions taken by the government have been commendable. In terms of industry support, it would have been appreciated if there had been some financial stimulus for businesses–not just for the imaging industry but for all overall. If not direct financial stimulus, we need alternative stimuli like tax breaks, waivers, etc. The effects of the lockdown cannot be tided over in a  month or two; it will take several months for the economy to recover.”

Rajendra Seksaria, Balaji Solutions Ltd, opines, “Support the government has announced like deferral of EMIs, etc is not going to help much. We are trying our best to minimize OPEX. Unless the public transport opens, we cannot run our offices or factories because over 80% of the employees come by public transport.”

“After lockdown, everything has come to a standstill, but lockdown is essential because the number of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai has crossed 8000 and in Maharashtra 10,000. Without lockdown, the infections could exponentially increase making things worse. On the imports front, the consignments are arriving from China but with a lockdown on there is little we can do with them,” concluded, Deepesh Patel, Jet Technologies.

Business Plan During the lockdown

According to  Pramod Rajpal of ProDot, “My principle is we should see an opportunity in every challenge. The current crisis is an opportunity to learn new things and prepare better for the future. If the government allows opening online services, we’ll be open to supporting our partners  to sell on online platforms.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company opines, “We are getting in touch with customers assuring them of our long-term support to make their business sustainable, profitable and fast-growing even in uncertain times of fear by worrying about future rather than reality.”

Ashish Kothari of Jet Tec expresses, “Cash Flow Management is going to be the key focus post the offices’ resume. Frankly, the lockdown has given us time to introspect, to stop and think about what we have done, what we are doing, and what we have to do in the future. We have redefined our goals and identify areas that we need to focus on after the lockdown is over. Another specific area that we will surely focus on is Online Business, to reach the Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities of the country.”

Gaurav Khetterpal of Growlam shares, “The government has taken a great step in initiating the lockdown and extending it, as the situation might worsen due to an increase in the number of infected patients. Police, Doctors, MCD workers, etc are working day and night to curb the epidemic and keep everything under control, and the government is doing a great job. As far as our industry is concerned, we don’t see any positive steps taken by the government. The government might have extended the dates to file the GST and other returns, issued a moratorium on the EMIs of Loans if any, but the liability stays on the taxpayer, and they have to pay their dues at a later stage. Whereas, the businessman has to pay out the salaries and other necessary expenses, even during the lockdown while their business is suspended.”

Sandeep Sanghvi, Itone, asserts, “We continue to do business as usual once the lockdown is lifted, following our vision and long-term growth strategy.”

Santosh Kumar, Imaging Solutions, shares, “We told our suppliers in China to keep the orders on hold because, during the lockdown, there is nothing we could do even if the consignments arrive. Nearly, 130 people work in our factory, we asked them all to go home. Even after they lift the lockdown, it will take several months for the business conditions to get normal. Everybody has to follow lockdown restrictions keeping the overall good of the society in mind and should not be in a hurry to resume businesses. We just have to wait patiently until the epidemic comes under control.”

Sharad Midha, President, Sumanglam International, states, “The imaging industry unions are trying to persuade the government to consider the imaging products as essential items so that we can slowly kickstart the business. But we still need to get a written approval or announcement from the government stating that they will allow imaging products to sell online channels. Let us hope the best.”

“We always believe that everything is Almighty’s wish and this too will pass on with the time! The need of the hour is to be safe, stay indoors, and be healthy so that we can face and handle any situation! As an individual and as a company I believe IMAGE KING and India will see a larger growth in future as we hope to have an abundance of opportunities,” concluded, Masood Khan of Image King.

Business  Back on Track

“I somehow feel that post lockdown, the businesses will start with negative sentiments, because every company and individual will be looking up to clear all the dues piled up due to lockdown, and the inflow of money will be very limited. With the limited inflow, meeting expenses, clearing government dues like taxes, rent, salaries, telephone bills, electricity payment will be the top priority of all Indians, so it will be a tough time for all. Besides this, the payments to the suppliers will be a major issue for which great planning is required. In my view, most of us will try and complete this cycle in about 90 days, and in 180 days I hope India will be in a comfortable position!” elaborates Masood Khan, Image King.

Ashish Kothari of Jet Tec states, “Considering the scale of impact this pandemic has on the economy, it will be a great challenge to recover to the pre-Covid 19 levels. But, as it is said there is always an opportunity in adversity. I wish India will emerge as the preferred alternative to China for manufacturing. But having said that, the time frame I think should take a minimum of 9-12 months for businesses to be back on track.”

“In my view, once the lockdown opens, and we are allowed to operate our businesses, things won’t be the same but have changed drastically. There will be a shift in human behavior, and the way people will make their purchases in the future. New and innovative strategies have to be implemented in order to adjust to the new conditions. There will be less personal interaction and more of telephonic and online orders, and people will buy limited and necessary stocks. I think it will take at least 6 months to bring the business on track,” states Gaurav Khetterpal of Growlam.

Sandeep Sanghvi, Itone, briefs, “Once the lockdown is lifted and as soon as Logistic / Transport companies are allowed to operate, our industry should be back on track sooner compared to a lot of other industries.”

Rajendra Seksaria, Balaji Solutions Ltd opines, “Anyway, the FY 2020-21 is going to be tough for the economy and for everybody. All that we can do at  present is wait and watch and hope the best.”

Deepesh Patel, Jet Technologies, briefs, “Under the circumstances, there is nothing we could do; we can’t blame anybody. We just have to wait and watch.”

Government  Financial Support

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company says, “Just provide liquidity and time and DO NOT punish industry for delays and defaults. And ensure government and public sector and public bodies pay ALL outstanding dues to suppliers especially MSME to allow them to improve the financial situation.”

“My first question is why always depend, expect or blame the government for everything. The government must be busy saving lives, medical and prevention exercises, and working on core subjects. There have been many announcements from the finance ministry, RBI and other related government departments. Once the lockdown ends, we all can overcome this current crisis !! I expect the government to give leverages to tax payments like GST, TDS, Advance tax, etc making some relaxations in deadlines,” expresses, Masood Khan of Image King.

Sandeep Sanghvi of Itone comments, “I would like to point out that we have not laid off a single employee in our company and all salaries have been paid. Government support can be in various ways – Tax Breaks, Deductions, Waivers, and so on. It is for the government to decide since it is the businesses that create employment. And the growth of businesses creates more employment. Anything that will help businesses improve their cash flow will be appreciated.”

“While the Government has its own huge revenue challenges, at this stage the major concern for any business is the ability to continue to pay monthly wages & salaries to its employees. The majority of the companies cannot for Work from the Home concept. I think the Government should extend the financial benefits in 2 parts. 1st it can give companies upfront a fixed amount based on GST paid by the Company in the last 3 years as Interest Fee Loan that can be adjusted against the GST / Input Credit over a period of coming 2-3 years. This will ensure liquidity in the system. 2nd part is by giving relaxations on the business loan taken from banks in any form, rather than simply giving the option of differed repayment of the loan/EMI/other or any other lending options are taken. This will ensure a less number of companies declaring NPAs or going bankrupt post-Covid 19. These steps shall also help in retaining employment, income, and consumption in the country which are the key to survival and growth of any economy,” explains Ashish Kothari of Jet Tec.

“I think the government should give some relief in taxation for at least 3 months, so that all the businesses can recover well and stand on their feet, during this period. It’s very difficult to pay the taxes and also other expenses of the business under the present circumstances. Also, the government should give some benefit schemes or basic necessities to the working class so that they don’t have to worry about their families,” states Gaurav Khetterpal of Growlam.

“Everything looks gloomy and uncertain. The gov. cannot help SMEs and we have to face the consequences on our own. There is no business for the past 2 months, but we have to pay salaries, rent, and other routine and fixed expenses. No payments are coming from the partners too, everything is in a mess. The government should have given 2 weeks’ notice earlier so that people could have made some contingency plans, but the overnight decision to impose lockdown put everything in disarray,” concluded, Tarun Gupta, Proprietor, Goel Imports India.

Lessons  Applied in Future

Masood Khan of Image Star foresees, “No one knows how this virus originated, as a common man I don’t have knowledge. But I am confident that India will see a huge growth economically in the days to come. Let us hope and wish and most importantly work hard in making India the biggest economy in the world; we should work in the way Japanese did. We all should believe that this is an opportunity to make India the largest economy in the world. I am confident in saying ‘Hum hongey kamyaab’ and ‘hamara time aayega.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company asserts, “Be ready for uncertainties, ensure profitability rather than chasing market share or volume or buying extra to meet OEM targets for year-end bonuses and credit management/cash payment …use digital payments and sell online to reach more ..and build brand above to differentiate and give the reason for buyers to buy your brand and from you…”

Ashish Kothari of Jet Tec elaborates, “At individuals level, Health and Hygiene are 2 most important factors to be given its due importance in our day to day life, In India that’s just too neglected. Business-wise, it is important to have the liquidity to face such circumstances in the future. The current situation has also opened our eyes to the importance of having strong finance forecast systems. Currently, Business in our Industry is completely credit-oriented and often leading to a cash crunch for most of the suppliers. But I see that this will change in the post-COVID-19 period. Most companies will work towards No Credit or Less Credit More Cash Business.”

“We have been taking everything for granted, even our lives. During this time, we must value what all have been given by God, nature is reviving, we can see clear skies, stars at night, fresh air and no pollution, the life which we dreamt of. As far as business is concerned, we need to sit and visualize our plan for the next 5 years and learn from all the mistakes we have made in the past. We shall think honestly, if we really making money out of our business, or are in kind of a rat race to just sell anything. The answer will come out by the time lockdown ends, and we shall be ready to give our best yet again, with full energy and dedication,” concludes Gaurav Khetterpal of Growlam.

Rajendra Seksaria, Balaji Solutions Ltd, Kolkata, opines, “Well, we see this as an opportunity to learn how to manage OPEX and CAPEX well in our future activities.”

Sandeep Sanghvi of Itone opines, “This is a very unique situation which has never been witnessed before. It is very difficult to prepare for such a scenario in advance. A good quality-oriented company will always survive and grow; no matter what the situation is.”

“Anyway, I don’t think the crisis will be over by May; it is likely to continue for several more months. The number of new cases is still nearly 2000 per day, so we can’t say that the crisis is over. The government may not start public transport immediately and may relax the restrictions only in phases. Let us hope the best and be optimistic,”  concluded, Pramod Rajpal of ProDot.

Finally

This unexpected COVID-19 pandemic has put businesses in difficult conditions, but we have to face it, there is no option. Government support can only be limited. Even after the lockdown is lifted it will take several months for the businesses as well as the economy to recover. We just have to take it an opportunity to learn new ways of doing business–cutting down opex, opting for Work From Home where possible, supplying products remotely (taking online), minimizing staff, etc. Remember, after facing enormous destruction, how Japan and Germany sprang back into powerful economies within a decade after World War II.

Due to impact of Coronavirus outbreak, there is lower spending by investors as well as end-users, India’s Imaging Industry is bound to suffer a big downturn in the FY 2020-21, and severely in the first half.

The disease has come under control in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan from where most of the imaging products are imported, but now the imports come with 10-15% higher prices, and no credit. As the number of Covid-19 cases in India surges, the IT industry has sought easing of regulatory restrictions for a month to enable Work from Home (WFH) for the many sectors, but work-from-home may not apply or help much in case of Imaging Industry.

In most of South Asian countries, the COVID-19 is in the begging stages and expected rise exponentially unless it is methodically controlled. The Indian government is taking drastic measures to control the spread of the virus, through locking down cities and districts, blocking all the transportation services, imposing curfews, etc.

As the Coronavirus outbreak continues spread, now is the time for the technology industries to consider response actions to help mitigate the risks and prepare for how well to deal with the fallout from the Coronavirus. An effective plan should include establishing an interdisciplinary crisis response team to identify, assess, and manage the risk presented. The team should include personnel from purchasing, operations, quality, finance, human resources and legal.

In recent days, technology companies have closed stores and offices, restricted executives and workers from traveling to affected areas and warned about the potential effects on their supply chains. Manufacturers in China and Southeast Asia are key suppliers to various technology companies across the globe. A number of those manufacturers have been impacted by the Coronavirus and have delivered to customers notices of potential force majeure events as a result of the Coronavirus.

China is the world’s biggest manufacturing hub. Typically, Indian companies are present in China as branch offices, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or wholly-owned foreign enterprises, hiring more than half of their workforce locally. China is India’s second largest trading partner. The country accounted for 13.7% of India’s total imports in 2018-19 while 5.1% of India’s total exports went there, according to ministry of commerce data. zent on China. A supply crunch in smartphones, TVs and electronics will impact e-commerce sales dearly. Well, the realization dawns that the outbreak has the potential to affect trade worth #87 billion approximately as China exports around $70 billion worth of goods to India.

COVID-9 is a rude reminder of the fragility in the systems of doing business and the uncertainty. While in the short-term, this is no more than a minor speed bump, in the long-run, many companies must take cues from this episode for contingency of delivery to clients.

Impact of Coronavirus Epidemic on Indian Businesses
According to Sanjeev Mahajan (Consultant & Country Manager) (New Delhi), Prime Success Company Limited, “Yes, the outbreak of Corona virus epidemic has severely hampered the operations of China’s imaging supplies manufacturing companies. Output in most factories / companies in China has reduced or in many cases stopped due to labor unable to reach factories due to travel restrictions and/or quarantine. Production everywhere is quite low as compared to normal and hence much fewer dispatches than usual are possible from factories and this has affected shipments to our customers in India also. Now, many other manufacturers who supply to India are shipping only upon receiving advance payments. This has further restricted the shipments to India as most are unable to meet this advance cash requirement. The FOB prices of the imported compatible new build toner cartridges have been increased by most, if not by all manufacturers, by approx 8% to 10% at least usually to cover the increased input cost of raw materials and shortages. However, in most of India importers and distributors are selling at prices higher by 25% over their normal December-end selling prices to boost profitability as their supply lines are not assured, costs uncertain and they have to ensure supplies last till fresh stocks arrive. Thus the end-user or actual customer pays a little more but it is still below the corresponding OEM price …so I guess this price increase is inevitable to make this business sustainable and profits acceptable.”

Aryan Goel (President), Aryan Trade World Pvt Ltd (ATWPL),said “The outbreak of Coronavirus has affected all the businesses and industries in India, including the imaging Industry. Supplies from China have started now at a slower pace. Recently, I heard customs people are not working regularly, so even if some shipments arrive from China, we are not sure when they will reach our warehouse. Chinese suppliers have increased prices by 10-12%. And then the epidemic has also pushed up the value of dollar against rupee dollar leading to some unavoidable increase in prices.”

“Imaging industry, like every other industry, got affected by the impact of Coronavirus epidemic outbreak. We have sufficient stocks to go for 1 more month. However, the supplies from China have started arriving. Costs have gone up by nearly 10% and we have increased the prices of our supplies to our partners at the same 10%, not more. Also there is delay and disruption of payments receivable from the market in India,” said, Ajay Mehta (Managing Director), Pristine Care Products Pvt Ltd.

Ashish Sanghvi, Proprietor, Premier Computers [Mumbai], shares, “Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus epidemic, there were no suppliers for the last 2 months and now supplies have resumed partially and deliveries are slow due to lockdowns. On the other hand Chinese companies have increased prices by 10%, freight charges have gone up and dollar cost has gone up. Due to all these factors, we are compelled to increase prices of our products to our suppliers by 15-20%.”

Rajendra Seksaria (CMD), Balaji Solutions Limited (Kolkata), comments, “With the spread of Coronavirus in China, all our orders placed to Chinese companies are pending and consignments are not arriving. We finished all our stocks in India and waiting for the consignments to arrive and this has seriously affected our business which has been already been going slow due to dull market for the past few years. We are anxiously waiting for the COVID-9 crisis to end and the pressure to ease on us and on our partners.”

Gaurav Khetterpal (Director), Greenlam Office Solutions (New Delhi), said, “The Coronavirus has definitely affected the Indian imaging industry, as the supplies have stopped from China. The prices of imported products from China have gone up by 10%, but we have not increased our prices to our partners so far as we have old stocks that will keep us going for another 3 months and also we do not want to take advantage of this situation and increase prices.”

Sanjeev Chaudhury, Delco Copier (New Delhi), “Due to the Coronavirus impact, the wholesale prices have surged by 20-25% on toner cartridges and 5-10% on other items like viper blades. On IT products, the increases are by 15-20%. Currently, we have limited stocks and hope the situation will improve by May-end and prices will become normal.”

Mukesh Patel, Multi Info Media Pvt Ltd (Ahmedabad), says, “Due to Coronavirus spread, the supplies had stopped earlier, but now they have started supplies. We have already placed orders and we are expecting deliveries by the first week of May. The Chinese have increased prices by 6-12% and they are doing only cash business first-paid, first-ordered first-served basis.”

Deepesh Patel (Prop), Jet Technologies (Mumbai), comments, “About the impact of the Coronavirus epidemic, we have stocks to go for till mid-May and we are expecting fresh deliveries by the first week of May from China, so are not affected much by the Coronavirus epidemic and also we have not increased our prices because of Coronavirus issue, as many other are increasing taking advantage of the situation. We increased our prices only by 5-10% because of the drop in the value or rupee vis-à-vis dollar. We hope the situation will become normal by May-end.”

Prashant Bhansali (CEO), HCR Info Consumables Pvt Ltd (New Delhi), said, “The impact of Coronavirus has been very bad as we have finished all our stocks. The prices have gone up by 15-25% from China side and we are selling with the same percentage increase. We are expecting new consignment deliveries only by the first week of May 2020. We hope things will improve by May.”

B.B. Somani (CEO),Gloima Imaging Technologies (Pune), said, “The situation is very bad. In China manufacturing has come to a standstill in most of the plans. Only a few manufacturers are taking orders and the increased their prices by 8-10%. We have increased our prices by 20%. Our stocks are finishing fast and may last only till April-end. By the time supplies from China become normal, it will be June 2020. We are eagerly waiting to see the crisis blown over.”

Sandeep Sanghvi, MD, Itone(Mumbai), said “There has been some impact on our stock availability on products coming in from China since there has been a delay in factories reopening, but the situation seems to be improving. Also the impact of Coronavirus has led to a depreciation of the rupee vis-à-vis US dollar. Impact on our business has been limited since we work with businesses and factories worldwide, not just in China.”

Vishvesh Gilda (Partner), Intrix Infotech LLP, opines“The Coronavirus epidemic has caused a panic in the market. Partners and users are buying only a limited extent as they want to see how things will shape up. From Chinese side the prices have gone up by 10-12% and also there is drop in the value of rupee against dollar, so we have increased our prices by 10-15%. We have limited stocks and hope the situation would improve and become normal by June-end.”

Navratan Baid, Vijex Vyapaar Pvt Ltd, said, “There is panic in the market as a result of Coronavirus. We do not import much from China, but import mostly from Japan and South Korea, where our suppliers are able to send us material. So we are not affected much by the this epidemic. Next, we have stocks to run for 2 to 3 months, so we are not much worried. But the drop in the value of rupee against dollar has pushed up our prices. Overall we hope the situation will become normal by June-end.”

Abhay Kumar, Proprietor, Easyfill, comments, “The recent spread of coronavirus has pushed up the prices of imaging consumables. And situation could get worse in the coming months unless the outbreak comes under control.”

David Gibbons Business Director RT Media, comments, “In my view it will take between 1 month and 4 months for everything to reach normal. For some suppliers it will make little or no difference with just a small temporary delay. For some others it will take a little longer.,”

Tarun Gupta, Goel Imports, New Delhi, states, “The Coronavirus epidemic has definitely affected the imaging industry in India as a result of its severe impact on the manufacturing of imaging products in China. Earlier, the suppliers in China were giving credit, but now they are asking the Indian customers to pay back the dues and then pay in advance for fresh purchases. We may receive supplies, for the orders we placed in Feb 2020, only in May. Right now prices of imaging products in India have gone up by 25-30%, but if the supplies are short, the situation can worsen in the coming months.”

Rakesh Virmani, Proprietor, Rank Office Automation, opines, “For the past two months there have been no shipments from China due to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. At present, only toners are made in India and other components have to come from abroad. So our business is bound to be affected. However, we have good stocks, so we are able to cushion the effects of low supplies from abroad. We hope the Coronavirus situation will improve by May-June.”

Ashish Ahlawat, A R Copier, New Delhi, expresses, “Due to Coronavirus outbreak, prices have gone up by 20% and sales are coming down, because nobody wants to make big purchases as the market trends remain uncertain. Copier consumables business is totally down and printer consumables are doing ok. On the negative side we do not know when the outbreak will subside and we start getting deliveries from China. If the situation continues, from June onwards there could be acute shortage of products. Let us hope the situation will improve.”

Ganesh S. Iyer (GM-Sales & Marketing), ITDL Imagetec Limited [New Delhi], said“Since we manufacture everything in India, the outbreak of Coronavirus epidemic has no impact on our business in terms of demand or supply. Only high the unhealthy competition from low-quality products in the market is affecting our business negatively. But if the epidemic breaks loose and goes out of control in India, it can have devastating effects on the India industries and markets, irrespective of the import situation.”

“Due to the outbreak of Coronovirus, we have increased the prices of our products by 20% for our customers in India, but sales have gone down. Copier consumables have come down drastically by printer consumables are doing OK. Let us hope the situation will improve soon,” concluded Joshi of Delhi Copier.

Looking at the Brighter Side of the Situation
The outbreak of COVID-9 has devastated the Indian industry in general and imaging industry in particular. Let us see the positives of the situation at least in the short-run. On a positive note, dollar has appreciated by almost 4-5%, which is a good sign for Indian export businesses as their margins will improve. Due to this, some western companies India could become a manufacturing-outsourcing alternative to China. For those who have overstocked products, this will be an opportunity to clear stocks. Another brighter side is imaging players have been selling with very low margins which has been pushing them below survival level. With prices increasing now they can make some decent profit. Below are some opinions which throw light on the positive side of the current crisis.

Tempted by credit supplies, some entrepreneurs have overstocked the products and on the other hands margins have been too low in the past few years making it difficult for the players to survive. In general business on credit is bad and harmful for both suppliers and partners in the long run. Some Industry players believe this is an opportunity to dispose of their stocks and at decent profit; and it is also an opportunity to get out of the old and destructive way of doing business on credit. Below are the comments of some people who look at the brighter side of the current scenario.

Tarun Gupta of Goel Imports states, “Looking at the lighter side, Chinese manufacturers stopping credit sales is also good for the Indian providers who often tempted to purchase big lots on credit and then unable to sell them in-time and then end up selling at undercut prices thus upsetting the MoP. Now, I hope, people will buy only the amounts they could comfortably sell. Some importers and distributors are selling products at 50% above earlier prices taking advantage of the panic-buying. In our case, we have increased prices by a reasonable 10%, not over-pricing, so that partners can comfortable in selling our products and we want to maintain that goodwill and trust among our partners and end users. We are also trying our best maintain a continuous supply to our partners in spite of Coronavirus affects.”

Ashish Ahlawat, A R Copier, New Delhi, expresses, “We have enough stocks and we have been suffering due to low margins but now with prices going up we could make some decent profit by increasing prices. Industry and partners have been weighed down by low margins. Now, as a positive effect of the Coronavirus outbreak, the distributors who have over-stocked products can finish the stocks and also make a decent profit as prices have gone up. Similarly, dealers and jobbers can charge a little more from the customers and make some profit.”

says, However, I do not see any link between the Coronavirus and ‘Make in India’ initiative except that people are unable to travel from the to-and-fro the affected countries indirectly affecting the process. There is nothing we can really do under the circumstances; we just have to wait till the situation improves,” concluded, Sandeep Sanghvi, MD, Itone.

How Entrepreneurs are Dealing with the Crisis
According to Aryan Goel of ATWPL, “We have a few stocks left, but have not increased prices much to our partners as we want to support them. We are currently supplying only to our old and regular partners and not accepting any new partners. Unless the epidemic comes under control in the coming few weeks, all the industries in India and the economy is going suffer severely.”

Ajay Mehta of Pristine Care Products, said, “We are optimistic that things will get normal by April-end provided the epidemic won’t go out of control in India.”

Ashish Sanghvi, Proprietor, Premier Computers [Mumbai], said, “We have stocks to run till the end our April 2020. We hope the situation will improve by May. Otherwise there is going to be severe shortages in the market.”

Mukesh Patel of Multi Info Media says, “We have stocks to go for two more months. We are supplying only to some limited regular partners so that they do not run out of products. Also we have not increased prices for them; we are supplying them at old and genuine prices.”

Sanjeev Mahajan of Prime Success Company Limited, said “Customers in India are now not buying big lots and are not making long-term commitments as the future price and supply scenario is uncertain thus further exacerbating the difficult situation. To survive and even thrive under the present circumstances, importers and distributors in India should maintain long-term supplier relationships to ensure their brand’s integrity and consistent customer experience. Importers should not increase the prices of their products unnecessarily nor shift to selling lower quality products to compete, taking advantage of the shortages situation. All we can do at present is to hope things will improve sooner than expected and by April or latest before end May 2020 the situation will be normal and supplies ease to fully meet customer demand.”

“We want to be supportive towards our partners as far as possible. If the situation continues this way then we may have to increase prices. Drop in the value of rupee vis-à-vis USD is also impacting our imports. In April we will take a call whether to increase our prices to partners or not. We hope the situation will get normal by May-end,” concluded, Gaurav Khetterpal (Director), Greenlam Office Solutions (New Delhi).

Finally

At a time when the world is looking for the cure of Covid-19, it is essential for technology companies to be able to support global efforts by ensuring adequate uptime to save of lives around the world. India’s leading global information technology, consulting and cloud services companies are reacting on war-footing to help businesses sustain and operate under pressure of Coronovirus pandemic. Companies are offering FREE MIGRATION of Desktops to Cloud so that businesses can declare work from home option for their employees and contribute to the safety of their employees. It is important for the Technology Industry to take additional steps in-time in order to mitigate their risk of suffering negative impacts from the Coronavirus. This is also an opportunity for the brand and partners to design new proactive strategies that will help them do business better in future. Many times great inventions are made during crises.

INDUSTRY VIEWS

Mr Aryan Goel (President), Aryan Trade World Pvt Ltd (ATWPL)
“Supplies from China have started at a slower pace but shipments are also getting delayed at customers further as customs departments are not working at full capacity due to lockdowns. We are just waiting for the situation to improve.”

Mr Sanjeev Mahajan (Consultant & Country Manager) (New Delhi), Prime Success Company Limited
“Importers should not increase the prices of their products too much nor shift to selling lower quality products to compete, taking advantage of the shortages situation. Partners in India should maintain long-term supplier relationships to ensure their brand’s integrity and consistent customer experience.”

Mr Sandeep Sanghvi, MD, Itone
“Impact on our business has been limited since we work with businesses and factories in several countries worldwide, not just in China. But the impact of Coronavirus has led to a depreciation of the rupee vis-à-vis US dollar this is putting pressure on us to increase prices.”

Mr. Gaurav Khetterpal (Director), Greenlam Office Solutions (New Delhi)
“Under the circumstances, we want to be supportive towards our partners so we have increased prices as little as possible. Drop in the value of rupee vis-à-vis USD is also impacting the prices of imports.”

Mr Rakesh Virmani, Proprietor, Rank Office Automation
“At present, only toners are made in India and other components have to come from abroad, so our business is bound to be affected. However, we have good stocks, so we are able to cushion the effects of low supplies from abroad. We hope the Coronavirus situation will improve by May-June.”

Mr Ashish Sanghvi, Proprietor, Premier Computers [Mumbai]
“We have stocks to run till the end our April 2020. We hope the situation will improve by May. Otherwise there is going to be severe shortages in the market.”

Mr Mukesh Patel of Multi Info Media Pvt Ltd
“Until our current stocks are finished, we are supplying only to some limited regular partners at old prices so that they do not run out of products. We hope things will improve soon.”

Mr Tarun Gupta of Goel Imports
“Now, I hope, people will buy only the amounts they could comfortably buy and sell in cash, and credit-based business will decrease. Credit business is bad for both sellers and buyers in the long-run.”

Mr. Ganesh S. Iyer (GM-Sales & Marketing), ITDL Imagetec Limited [New Delhi]
“Since we manufacture everything in India, the outbreak of Coronavirus epidemic has no impact on our business in terms of demand or supply. But if the epidemic breaks loose, it can have devastating effects on the India industries and markets.”

Mr Joshi of Delhi Copier
“Due to the outbreak of Coronovirus, we have increased the prices of our products by 20% for our customers in India, but sales have gone down. Copier consumables have come down drastically by printer consumables are doing OK. Let us hope the situation will improve soon.”

Eastern India is a huge market for printer consumables with unlimited opportunities for providers, however, it is difficult to penetrate or make a sustainable profit. Challenges include lack of awareness among consumers about quality and cost-effectiveness aftermarket products, non-recognition of aftermarket by the government departments, low-quality goods from china flooding the market, etc, obstacles created by the OEMs remain challenges to the aftermarket industry. Imaging Solution presenting here the insights and viewpoints, of some of the aftermarket industry stalwarts of the Eastern India, about the regions consumables market, its challenges, uniqueness, diversity and more.

Technochem’s business well in Kolkata city as well as in WB, Orissa and Jharkhand

Founded in 2008 in Kolkata and led by its Proprietor, Dhiren Desai, Technochem Enterprises is a provider of a wide range of imaging consumables, including inkjet inks, powders, toner cartridges, printer machine parts, etc under their brand name JJ. Technochem is also a distributor for the imaging consumables of Jet Technologies and JetTec, ITDL brands. They also do printer and copier rental business. Besides their distribution business, they also have a retail shop in Kolkata. Dhiren Desai comments, “Our customers, mostly DTP workers and others, come from Kolkata city and the West Bengal state and some from Orissa and Jharkhand. We are growing at an annual rate of 30%. For us, imaging market is good at present. About 20% of our business comes from our own brand JJ and the rest 80% comes from selling other consumables of other brands and rental business. ITDL, Jet Technologies, and Jet Tec brands are selling well in our areas of operations. We have channel strength of 150 partners spread across the three states –WB, Orissa and Jharkhand. Our man selling points are good relationships with our partners and customers, good quality and reasonable price. On the color front, inkjet inks are selling better compared to toners due to the cost-advantage of inks. Next year, we want to open one more retail shop in Kolkata in a different locality, in addition to our already existing retail shop. We are looking forward to good business in the coming years.”

Black Bull is doing well in Eastern India despite Market Slowdown

India Cartridge Engineers, led by its Proprietor, Rajesh Agarwal, was founded in 2011 in Kolkata. Their brand name is under which they sell a wide range of imaging consumables including compatible toner cartridges, powders, toner cartridge parts, printer machine parts and inks for inkjet printers. They sell consumables for leading brands and their models like HP, Canon, Samsung, Ricoh, Epson, etc. Rajesh Agarwal comments, “Our brand is doing well. Though we are based in Kolkata, we sell in Jharkhand and Orissa states, in addition to West Bengal and Kolkata city. We are growing at an annual rate of 20%. Compared to last year, this year market has been slow throughout eastern India region. We hope it will improve next year. Our main selling points are good quality and comfortable price. Color ink is selling better than color toners. After the color inks have become a hit, the demand started shifting to color inks from color toners. We buy products from other quality-proven importers in India. We have color inks for all the leading brands like Epson, Brother, HP and Canon. Another trend we have noticed is, with compatible cartridges coming at cheaper prices and with better quality, refilling is decreasing. And we expect this to continue further in the coming years. For future, we want to focus on doing better whatever doing at present.”

Whitelight Brand is doing well in Spite of Market Slow Down

Founded in 2015 and led by its Proprietor, Jitendra Bothra, Disney Import (India) Co. is a Kolkata-based provider of imaging and office equipment products. Under their brand name, Whitelight, they provide a range laser printer and copier consumables including laser & color toner powders, laser printer cartridges, photo paper, copier parts, HP and Epson printer spare parts like paper feed roller, waste pad, pick up roll, scanner with head cable, belt, pipe, laminator consumables, etc. They also sell lamination machines, lamination pouch film and currency counting machines under the brand name Disney. Jitendra Bothra shares, “Our customers come from all over India: about 20% from West Bengal and 80% from other states including Punjab, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, etc. Our main selling points are good quality, attractive prices and excellent after-sales-service. Next year, we want to add spiral binding machines, PVC card, paper cutters, etc to our product-line. We do not deal in color consumables. For our brand and products, we see imaging market has been good, though there has been a general slowdown in the market. We will continue to add more products to our portfolio and improve services.”

IT Valley Focuses a Lot on Providing After-Sales-Service in Post-Warranty Period

IT Valley, founded in 2006 and led by its Proprietor, Rajarshi Das, is a Dubrajpur (of Birbhum district of West Bengal) based provider of IT products, peripherals and imaging consumables and services, including PCs, laptops, projectors, printers, copier machines and printer consumables. They sell printer consumables like inkjet inks, printer toner cartridges, toner powders, printer machines parts and also undertake printer and copier repair services. Rajarshi Das comments, “We maintain good quality and above that we focus a lot on after-sales-service. We take care of customers’ issues after they cross the warranty period. We also maintain cordial relationships with our customers. Earlier (2006-13), we grew at an annual growth rate of nearly 30%, but now (2014-19) the annual growth rate has been around 15% as the market has slowed down. Dubrajpur is a small town and our customers are mainly govt offices, bank branches, post office, police station, etc. Per month we sell nearly 15 printer machines and 2 copier machines. On the color front ink-tank printer machines are selling well, not many laser printer machines. In future, we want to focus more on improving our service.

In Berhampore, after GST Launch Profits have come down, though Volumes are Increasing

Systech is a Berhampore (West Bengal) based provider of imaging consumables. Their product portfolio includes toner powders, toner cartridges, inkjet inks, printer machine parts, accessories and printer repair services. Systech is a distributor of itone toners. They also sell inks of Jet Cartridge, OEM toners and OEM cartridges and others printer consumables. Sushanta Halder, Proprietor of Systech, comments, “In this part of the country, toner refilling is almost coming to an end, and compatible cartridges are selling well. We are distributors for itone toners and itone quality is very good and it is selling well. Even for compatible cartridges, margins have become very small. After GST, business has come down a lot in this part of the country. GST may be good for big brands and big traders, but for small traders like us, after GST implementation, business has dropped a lot. Even survival has become difficult. Overall the market demand is good and is increasing, but margins have come down to very low levels. We do printer repair services also in Berhampur area which are doing well and the repair services help us to compensate our business overall, as there is little profit in selling consumables. We are thinking of adding new products other than imaging to our operations, otherwise it is difficult to survive selling only products and consumables.”

Yash Infotech Records Good Growth for their Copiers and Consumables Business in Kolkata

Yash Infotech founded in 2001 in Kolkata and led by its Proprietor, Anand Kumar Khedwal, is into selling copier machines of Canon, Kyocera and HP brands. Yash Infotech is a distributor for the entire range of Growlam products for the Kolkata region. They also sell copier machine parts. Anand Kumar Khedwal shares, “Currently market is not so good in general, but for us it is OK and we are doing good business growing at an annual rate of over 30& to 40%. We are selling about 10 to 20 copier machines a month, but the demand fluctuates from year on year. We recently took distributorship of Growlam products which are selling very well and we are expecting good demand for Growlam products in the coming years. Quality products, good relationship with customers and affordable prices are our main selling points. In the near future, we want to focus on whatever we are currently doing and do better. No plans to add new products. We are contented and optimistic about our operations and look forward to good business in the coming years.”

Easyfill brand is Selling Very Well in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal

Easyfill, a Patna-based professional provider of printer consumables, was established in 2014, is led by its Proprietor Abhay Kumar and managed by Bablu Kumar. Under their brand name, Easyfill, the company has been focusing on providing high quality printer consumables including black & color laser toner cartridges, inkjet cartridges, toner powders, OPC drums, PCR rollers, magnetic rollers, toner chips, blades, dotmatrix ribbon, copier cartridges, copier toners, copier parts, bulk ink and CISS systems. Abhay Kumar shares, “Currently growing at an annual rate of 15%, our main areas of operations at present are Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal in the eastern India and also Nepal. Our consumables are mainly for monochrome printers. Color usage is not that much in this part of the country at present but is expected to increase in future. Our Ranchi branch is doing very well where we are making a wide range of products available compared to our competitors so in Jharkhand region, our brand and products are selling very well. On Ranchi, we are going to be one of the top compatible brands. In Patna, market is bit dull now, but in Jharkhand and West Bengal, our brand Easyfill is doing very well. We have limited sales in Assam, but the demand is increasing, Next year, we want to focus more on Assam and West Bengal markets.”

Most of Dolphin’s Business Comes from Providing Products & Services to Government Sector in Jamshedpur

Dolphin Infonet Solutions, founded in 1999 and led by its Proprietor, Amitava Chakraborty, is a Jamshedpur-based provider of IT and imaging products in the Jamshedpur town. They also provide system integration services on a medium scale to the SMEs and small offices. For copiers, they provide only OEM consumables and for printer they provide OEM and also compatible consumables of Lapcare, Frontech and Doel brands. Amitava Chakraborty comments, “We are a medium-scale provider of complete infrastructure solutions particularly to the banks and government offices, including IT and imaging products and system integration services in the Jharkhand region, from which 90% of our business comes. We sell copier machines of Kyocera and Canon brands and we also undertake copier repair services for those we provide infrastructure. As for copier consumables, we provide only OEM consumables, no compatibles. Printer machines we deal in HP and Canon, for which we provide compatible consumables of Frontech, Lapcare and Doel brands. Quality, trust and good relationships are our selling points. We want to concentrate on whatever we are currently doing and establish our business within Jamshedpur.”

Digital Copier planning to expand the operations

Digital Copier Systems, founded in 1999 in Dibrugarh, Assam, by its Proprietor, Raju Bhattacharjee, is a provider of copier machines of Konica Minolta, Kyocera and Sharp bands and also OEM and compatible copier consumables like toners and toner cartridges for these brands. Raju Bhattacharjee comments, “With A4 printer prices coming down, they are becoming household items and the demand for copiers has come down a lot as people are no longer going to jobbers. Earlier, we used to sell a good number of copier machines, but for the past 3 years, we have been able to sell hardly 4 copier machines a month, so our business has come down significantly. For future, we are planning to expand our operations into providing printer machines and consumables which are in great demand.”

M P Enterprises Plans to Distribute High-End Copier Machines in Future in Silchar and South Assam

M P Enterprises, founded in 2003 and led by Nabarun Paul, is a Silchar (Assam) based local distributor of Sharp Copier machines and Sharp OEM consumables. They also provider UPS and Inverters. Nabarun Paul comments, “We are a distributor of Sharp brand copiers and OEM consumables for the southern Assam region. We deal only in Sharp brand copiers, no other brands. We have about 4 dealer-partners under us in south Assam. We sell about 10-15 black copier machines a month and we are growing at an annual rate of 5-10%. Color copiers do not sell much in this part of the country. Market has been dull for the past six months and we hope it will improve early next year. We provide good service and maintain good relationship. In future, we want to sell high end copier machines and focus on whatever we are doing at present.”

Itek Solutions Leads in Providing Cutting-Edge Printers that Print on Cotton and Jute

Kolkata based Itek Solutions is a provider of cutting-edge digital print solutions, under their brand name Itek for printing on jute, juco, cotton and matting jute. Their machines are small in size and cost, compared to similar machines in the market, but deliver higher output. Sushil Kumar Agarwal, CEO, Itek Solutions, shares his company’s product portfolio, business policy and market strategy in interaction with Imaging Solution magazine. Sushil Kumar comments, “Our Itek printing machines are made by our Chinese manufacturer (ODM) who is reputed to maintain high quality and reliability standards. And we get the machines manufactured to specially suit the environment and working conditions in Indian, in such a way they give the customers financial benefit and professional satisfaction. Most of the customers for our machines are SMEs, medium textile brands, jute bag manufacturers, etc.” “Our Itek machines are highly-costly effective and durable that helps the users save a lot in terms of money as space. We well-trained and qualified technical personnel to give the top class service to the customers who purchase our machines. The demand for our machines in increasing year after year and we are expecting more demand in the coming years.” Sushil Kumar adds. Regarding their future plans, Sushil Kumar briefs, “We will continue to focus on our Itek digital printing machines that print on cotton and jute. In just 3 years after launching, we received a overwhelming response from the market and we expect more in the coming years. We will launch more models in the coming year.”

Refilling is Decreasing Due to Increasing Compatibles Usage: Nicco Infotech

Founded in 2007, Nicco Infotech is a Durgapur (West Bengal) based provider of imaging consumables and IT products. Led by its Proprietor, Tapas Das, Nicco’s product-line of imaging consumables includes copier machines, laminators, lamination consumables, spiral binding machines, laser toners, laser toner cartridges, inkjet inks, etc; and IT product-line includes CCTVs (i-Ball) and Projectors. They also so undertake copier repair services. They sell laser printer cartridges of ProDot and toner powders of ITDL.Tapas Das comments, “With the invasion of A4 printer machines of the markets, the demand for copiers has drastically dropped and also the refilling segment is shrinking with the increasing usage of compatible cartridges. On the color side, due to cost-effectiveness, color inks are selling better than color laser toners. Now, we are focusing more on providing printer consumables (in addition to copier consumables) and want to expand our IT portfolio to sustain our business.”

The aim of Imaging Solution Conclave is to provide a platform where the partners can understand the latest developments in the imaging industry in terms of market trends and also latest technologies. The awards ceremony is also aimed to bring together players from different regions to meet at one place and celebrate like family members. There will be display space where vendors & distributors can showcase their brands, products and solutions to the visitors, interact with them and forge new relationships.

After seven successful events held at different cities, New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, in the previous years, this year Imaging Solution are conducting our 8th Imaging Solution Conclave in the morning session & Achiever’s Award Night, 2019 in the evening session on December 21st at Hotel Hindustan International, Kolkata as a mark of our attachment with eastern India partners, besides our close association with partners of other regions.

Imaging Solution India Conclave, 2019

The aim of conducting the conclave, before the awards night ceremony, is to provide a platform where the partners can understand the latest developments in the imaging industry in terms of market trends and also latest technologies. The Imaging Solution Conclave will have company presentations by vendors and distributors which will be followed by two engaging panel discussions where the industry experts and eminent people from the imaging industry speak as panelists and share their opinions. The conclave is designed to provide the business-critical information to the partners that help to redefine their business strategies and identify growth-drivers. Nearly 350 Top imaging partners from across India will participate in the conclave.

The topics of Panel Discussions are Latest Technology trends in the imaging aftermarket (inkjet, copier & printer consumables industry) and How to find business opportunities in the changing market & technology trends in the imaging industry.

8th Imaging Solution Achiever’s Award Night, 2019

At the 8th Imaging Solution Achiever’s Award Night, over 350 leading vendors, distributors and partners from the imaging industry will congregate under-one-roof and witness the achievers—products, brands, individuals–being recognized and awarded for their outstanding performances and contributions in different segments of the imaging industry during the year 2018.

These events enable the leading and upcoming Imaging Vendors and Partners, to engage with other players and industry experts and gain valuable information on the latest technology, market trends and business developments in the printer consumables industry that help to redraw their business strategies and cement long-term relationships.

The awards ceremony is also aimed to bring together players from different regions to meet at one place and celebrate like family members. There will be display space where vendors & distributors can showcase their brands, products and solutions to the visitors, interact with them and forge new relationships.

The events are set to provide the partners an effective platform for brand building, help to familiarize their products and solutions to a captive audience of top 350 partners from the imaging industry who include vendors, dealers, executives, association members, remanufacturers, etc. The events are designed to give the latest information on new business avenues and the latest trends. It is also a platform to revive old relationships and connect to the new partners and to expand business opportunities. The event enables the providers to put their brand on the top of the mind of the imaging industry fraternity and engage in one-to-one networking with the visitors and extend the reach of their brands, products and services, all supported by the media coverage – print as well as online – of Imaging Solution magazine.

The 8th Imaging Solution Achievers Award Night 2019 is a unique recognition, promotion and interaction platform offers different partnership options by which the brands and distributors can participate. Different categories include Achievers Awards (based on online voting), Special Awards, Editor’s Choice Awards and Awards for Best Performing Regional Distributors.

Ever since its inception, the aim of Imaging Solution Award Ceremony has been to motivate, support and recognize outstanding individual performers, brands and organizations who have acted as drivers to further the growth of the remanufacturing and aftermarket imaging industry. Imaging Solution understands the importance of encouragement and support needed by the remanufacturing and aftermarket industry which is still struggling to organize itself. In 2010 Imaging Solution organized the First Awards Function. After witnessing the enthusiasm shown by the industry in this ceremony, we never looked back and continued to conduct this ceremony which each year concluded better than the previous year’s event.

Last Year’s Event

Imaging Solution conducted the three-day, 3rd Imaging Solution India Expo on Nov 15-16-17, 2018 at NSIC-Exhibition Complex, New Delhi. On Nov 16, 2018, the annual 7th Imaging Solution Awards Night was also held in the same premises, where many exhibitors and performers also received awards under different categories for their performances. This year’s 3rd Imaging Solution Expo at New Delhi witnessed exhibitors representing the top brands and highly professional companies from across India and also some from China. They displayed a number of innovative products and latest technologies at the expo that amazed and inspired the visitors and professionals. Among the visitors there were many prominent retailers and professionals from corporates. The 7th Imaging Solution Achievers Award Night concluded in New Delhi where over 40 stellar performers have been rewarded for their performance in different segments of imaging industry. The awardees included individuals, brands, companies, products, etc. The grand event was attended by over 400 guests from different parts of the India and there were also guests from China. The guests included manufacturers, distributors, resellers, remanufacturers and professionals from the imaging industry.

Finally

The 8th Imaging Solution Conclave & Achiever’s Award Night 2019 will be beneficial platform for both the brands and partners to seek new relationships, learn new methods of doing business and to enhance connectivity. Imaging Solution request all the concerned partners in the industry to actively participate in the event and make the engaging, grand and successful.

However, 3D printing has more recently become of great interest to the manufacturing community—and it is well on its way to becoming a major player.

As the name implies, a 3D printer allows users to print an object as 3-Dimensional CAD (Computer Aided Design) images. Also called as additive manufacturing, 3D printing is an innovative technology that helps businesses cut costs and develops new methods of production. Though 3D printers have been in use for more than 25 years now, they have been gaining prominence only recently.

According to a survey, the 3D printer market in India will exceed Rs. 500 crore by 2022. And of course, the 3D printer market is not restricted to India; the demand for them is increasing the world over. Simplicity of use and almost unlimited customization possibilities has resulted in 3D printers becoming more and more popular as design tools. Since 3D technology allows rapid printing and testing of objects for form and function, it is also called as rapid prototyping. Initially, 3D printers were used as a rapid prototyping solution to make one or two quick physical samples giving the designers a chance to correct the flaws and modify the product. Prototyping still is the major usage of 3D printers but the developments in technology have made it possible to use this 3D printing beyond research and development stages and incorporate it into the manufacturing stage.

Technology

3D printing is a blend of software and hardware. The 3D printing process starts with a computer aided (CAD) file. CAD 3D software allows for the rapid creation of a drawing of an object in 3D. Computer aided manufacturing (CAM) uses computer software in tandem with machinery to improve and improve the manufacturing process.

3D Printers use a laser or extruder (the material output part of the printer), that move along an X, Y and Z axis to build an object in three dimensions, wherein successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. These layers can be only a few microns thick at a time. This is an advantage over traditional method which uses subtractive method where materials are cut or drilled from mould. Using the additive process, layers of materials in liquid, solid or material form are fused together. 3D printers thus use additive manufacturing or direct digital manufacturing technology to produce proto type of a product. 3D printers use CAD software like PTC Creo to create a digital blue print first. The object is then built layer by layer. Using this new technology, a manufacturer can develop a working prototype in just a few hours compared to traditional prototyping. The 3D printers developed by companies like Stratasys allow vivid visualization with realistic 3D models. Ultimately, this results in saving time and cost. Especially since the additive manufacturing process also minimizes waste.

As of today, there are four distinct types of technologies used in 3D printers: Material extrusion based 3D printers, Photo polymer, Selective Deposition Lamination and Binding 3D printers.

As printing speeds improve, and the range of raw material increases, 3D printing will permit people to improve aesthetics, durability and / or functionality by varying the material composition within a part. As world manufacturing economy shifts from mass production of consumer items like shoes or bicycles to advanced products such as MRI machines or jet engines, several emerging technologies – sensors, big data, robotics, advanced materials, machine learning – are enabling new levels of precision, productivity and innovation. 3D fits perfectly in this new paradigm – called Industry 4.0 – situated as it is at the intersection of materials science, robotics, cloud computing, sensing and imaging, crowdsourcing, data analytics and other areas. 3D printing, like its fabrication predecessors, has created new manufacturing processes, and it promises to change not just manufacturing, but will influence our daily life in one way or other. Truly, nothing short of a revolution!

Pros & Cons of 3D Printers

There are no two ways about it; 3D printing is the way of the future. From manufacturing small objects like clips to entire aeroplane wings, 3D printers are impacting our lives positively. Prosthetics, dental implants and accessories, etc. – 3D printing is all set to revolutionize the medical and healthcare field too. As technology improves, 3D printers will allow for almost unlimited customization, get easier to use, allow for clarity of design and quick prototyping, and waste less.

If 3D printers are beginning to look like the best thing since sliced bread, that is not exactly so. A few disadvantages of 3D printers include high cost (especially true of a developing country like India), high energy consumption and speed. High end, accurate 3D printers still cost a lot of money. In addition, 3D printers cannot yet print multiple objects at the same time. This increases the time taken to 3D print an object commercially. Again, in a country like India, where energy is costly, the cost to run a 3D printer is on the higher side. However, as technology improves, these constraints are getting resolved slowly.

Finally

3D printers and print technology is advancing all the time. As it does, prices will continue to fall as the devices and processes become ever more impressive. If you’ve read this guide from top to bottom, you will now have a good basic understanding of the different 3D printers and how they work. You will also know of the various materials printers use and the industries they support. And if you need a refresher, you can simply revisit any section of this guide at any time.

R.K. Sales provides a wide range of laser cartridge spares including chips, OPC drums, PCR, Teflon, pressure rollers; copier consumables etc under their brand name RKSS. The company also remanufactures monochrome laser cartridges and does refilling services.

R.K. Sales & Services, founded in 1990 by Deepak Aggarwal, is into repair and service mainly for printers & to a limited extent for copiers and selling of imaging consumables in small quantities and also in bulk. They provide copier and LaserJet cartridges, toners, inks and spare parts under their own brand name RKSS. They are also a distributor of ITDL full range of products including toners and spares for laser printers.

Regarding their business policy, Deepak Aggarwal shares, “Most of our customers come from NCR-Delhi region. We always strive to do business based on transparency and trust. We provide products of good quality and our customers have been with us for a long time and they come back to us for repeat purchases. Our business principle is offering decent quality products and good services at reasonable prices. We have full range of spares for HP, Samsung, Lexmark and Ricoh laser printers.”

R.K. Sales provides a wide range of laser cartridge spares including chips, OPC drums, PCR, Teflon, pressure rollers; copier consumables etc under their brand name RKSS. The company also remanufactures monochrome laser cartridges and does refilling services. R.K. Sales has a qualified and experienced team of technicians for repairing printer and copier machines of different brands and remanufacturing and refilling services.

Talking about the current market trends, Deepak Aggarwal continues, “The main challenge in the market is margins and profits are shrinking due to high competition and too many players. Next the flood of cheap and low-quality products such as cartridges and toners are corrupting the market and the quality standards are coming down. Low quality comes at low price but will cost more in the long-run. Users who do not understand this aspect run after cheap products and this is adversely affecting the branded players like us who offer quality at a price. The aftermarket industry overall remains unorganized and some initiatives are needed from the media, the imaging industry associations and big players to organize and streamline the aftermarket imaging industry.”

Regarding the growth of color usage in the market, Deepak Aggarwal briefs, “Color usage is increasing fast both on inkjet and laserjet side, but on the inkjet side the growth has been phenomenal where major share in the market is dominated by Epson printers. HP’s share is also increasing in the color inkjet segment. Compared to laser toners, color inks are less expensive and the quality of the prints is reasonably good, so color usage on laser side is much less.”

Deepak Aggarwal concludes, “We are growing at an annual rate of about 10%. Though we have dealership of some big branded printers, we are not into selling printer machines, because margins have come down drastically due to high taxes and competition and the idea of selling them is no longer feasible, so we want to focus more on printer repair services and bulk selling of consumables. Our own brand, RKSS, is selling well so we want to focus on our brand in future. In future, we want to be a one-stop-shop for all laser printer-related products. We are optimistic about our future and will focus on doing better whatever we have been doing.”