1.3KMr. Nirmal Bhansali founded the original company (Hindustan Computer Ribbons), the forerunner of HCR Info Consumables Pvt Ltd, in 1985. Today, his son, Mr. Prashant Bhansali, who grew up and learned the trade under the mentorship of his father, is carrying forward HCR to new levels in line with his father’s vision. In an interaction with the Imaging Solution magazine, Mr. Prashant Bhansali, Managing Director, HCR Info Consumables, shares about their company’s long journey, success, current operations, and future plans. Today, HCR Info Consumables, is a leading importer, manufacturer (OPC drums), and distributor of imaging consumables under their brand name – SPINK. HCR’s wide range of compatible products includes dot-matrix ribbons, printer and copier toner powder refill packs, refill kits, and laser toner cartridges and cartridge parts (no printer machine parts); and copier blades and drums. HCR also provides color printer toners and cartridges for HP, Canon, and Samsung brands. The company provides imaging consumables both in their brand name Spink and also in bulk without a brand name.
Mr. Prashan Bhansali shares, “I became active in the business in 1999; at that time my age was only 21. Though I found it difficult to understand and manage the business in the initial stages, under the mentorship of my father, I gradually picked up the skills and knowledge and now I am able to run on my own. My father’s demise in 2019 was a shock, but we have to move along; that is the way life is. Coming to our business operations, we import toners, toner cartridges, cartridge components, and OPC drums from reputed manufacturers in China. We do not import chips, but chip shortage can push up the cartridge costs as all the toner cartridges have chips. Today, we still provide dot-matrix ribbons, besides laser and copier consumables.”
The long and successful history of HCR Info Consumables Pvt Ltd:
1985: Started (under the name Hindustan Computer Ribbons) trading spool and dot-matrix ribbons.
1988: Introduced branded printer cassette ribbons in the Indian Market under the ‘Penguin’ series; got NIC to order worth Rs 1 Million in the very first month.
1989: First to introduce the concept of refill packs in India.
1992: Second only to Alkon in introducing Stony plastic data binders in India.
1993: Introduced STONY molded floppy diskettes and CD storage boxes.
1994: IncorporatedPrakash Computers Pvt Ltd.
1995: Introduced Refill kits for inkjet ‘PRINTJET.’
1999: Lunched Spink brand; Introduced keyboard protector ‘SAFESKIN’; Distributed products through Kendriya Bhandar, ET&T and DGS&D; Exported to Middle East, Russia, and CIS countries through export houses; Distributed printer parts and consumables of German, Japanese, Korean and Thai companies.
1999: Spink Brand was launched.
2009: Secured STMC certification from International Imaging Council, USA
2009: Changed name to HCR InfoConsumables Pvt Ltd
HCR also has its OPC drum manufacturing unit in Bangladesh which is a joint venture. The HCR’s entire range of products is made using premium quality raw materials & components and the latest technology with great precision and compliance with the set industrial quality standards. Next, HCR’s high-quality products come at affordable prices and offer excellent performance, trouble-free installation, high durability, and low maintenance costs.
“Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2020, we have been focusing mostly on giving products to customers on a cash-and-carry basis, no credit business because of the issues related to cash management. We do not sell our products via e-commerce portals or via our own website. All our partners have been with us for decades and they are more comfortable with the traditional way of transacting. Now we are nearly at 60% of the pre-pandemic business levels and hope by Jan 2022 we will reach our normal levels and improve as the year 2022 progresses,” adds Mr. Prashant Bhansali.
Recently, driven by the pandemic, freight charges on international shipments from China and the delays in deliveries have gone up significantly. These developments have pushed up the prices and availability of imaging products in India because most of the brands and companies in India are dependent on imports from China. The anti-dumping duty imposed by the Indian government on the imports from China on black toners has also led to an increase in the prices of black toners in India.
Mr. Prashant Bhansali reveals, “Due to the recent developments in the imports scenario, the prices per cartridge have already gone up by 10-15% and are expected to go up by another 10% in the coming months if the issues are not resolved. However, a side effect of the increase in cartridge prices will make people reuse the old compatible cartridges and remanufacture old OEM cartridges, and this is expected to lead to an increase in the demand and sale of cartridge components (needed while repairing and remanufacturing), toners (from refillers), and cartridge components. The demand for copier toners is still lower than the pre-lockdown levels. The copier toner demand will become normal only after the govt offices, schools, colleges, institutes, etc restart working full time. This may happen only in the early or mid-2022.”
HCR ensures that their entire product range is tested according to the strictly defined quality parameters to eliminate flaws in the products. Further, HCR’s quality control team adopts different control measures at different stages like procurement, warehouse, packaging, and dispatch to ensure that the products offered by them fit the needs of the clients. HCR’s high-quality solutions, timely delivery, flexible payment modes, and transparent practices have helped the company to garner a wide clientele spread across India.
“Color toners and cartridges form about 20% of our business but 80% comes from black toners and toner cartridges. Currently, we are importing toners from China; not buying from the Indian toner manufacturers. A decade back we used the toners provided by the Indian manufacturers but found that quality and consistency were low compared to the Chinese manufacturers. Maybe now the Indian toner manufacturers are also providing toners of international standards; we haven’t tried their toners during the last few years. But if they provide toners with improved quality and consistency, we are open to purchasing from them in the future,” states Mr. Prashant Bhansali.
In order to meet the diverse requirements of the customers, HCR provides its clients with a customized product range. The company selects the best vendors assisted by their experienced team of procurement agents and thorough market research. Some of the HCR’s main strengths that drive their success include a focused approach, competent and efficient teams, transparent dealings, maximum possible customer satisfaction, and their reputations, and their long-term relationships with vendors & partners.
Mr. Prashant Bhansali concludes, “Currently, our bulk and wholesale (unbranded) sales form 75%; and sales under Spink brand form about 25% in our business. Our annual growth rate before the outbreak of Covid, that is before 2019-20, was 10%. We hope it will reach that level next year. In the future, we want to increase our brand sales proportion in our total sales to 50% (from the current 25%), whereas bulk sales will continue as usual. In 2022, we want to appoint new channel partners, expand our channel network and establish the Spink brand strongly in the Indian market.”
