Relief to Importers, Compatible Brands and End-Users of Mono-Toner Cartridges as the Government Stalled Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD)

For importers, compatible brands and end-users of mono-toner cartridges, it is a sigh of relief, as the Government Stalled Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD), thanks to the efforts of some leading players in the Indian imaging industry who pursued the matter tirelessly. It is a well-known fact that there has been an ongoing issue raging regarding the imposition of ADD on the mono-toner cartridges for the past few years which is aimed at reducing import dependence and boosting domestic production. The domestic cartridge assemblers argue that imposing ADD will help to realize the government’s vision of self-reliant India. On the other hand, importers and most brands who depend on the imported cartridges believe that the current domestic ecosystem is not mature enough to manufacture cartridges in true sense, and the local cartridge makers are simply assembling the imported components and further they are able to assemble less than 30 variants against 400 variants for A4 printers and 250 variants for A3 printers needed by the Indian users. This will make dependence on the imported cartridges indispensable while the users also have to pay an extra cost of over 30% as a result of ADD. The government after some investigation decided to impose ADD on the imported mono-toner cartridges (on September 26, 2025) which needed 90 days for the officially approval and announcement by the Ministry of Finance, India.

Earlier, several imaging importers and brands in India strongly appealed to the government that the imposing ADD at this point of time, before the domestic industry had the infrastructure, will only increase the costs and prices of the cartridges without benefitting either the customers, importers or the brands. The 3-member team constituting Mr. Sudhir Sonthalia, Proprietor Techno Imaging; Mr. Sharad Midha, President, Sumangalam International Pvt Ltd; and Mr. Sanjeev Chaudhury, Delco Copier, appealed to the DGTR (Directorate General of Trade Remedies) against the imposition of ADD, and pursued the issue at High Court, and then at Supreme Court and finally convinced the Ministry of Finance and got the impending order to impose ADD on mono-toner cartridges stalled. This is definitely a commendable victory for the importers and the domestic brands who depend on imported cartridges who have been under great stress and confusion over the negative impact of the ADD and also to the end users who are now spared to pay the extra cost of ADD.

Speaking in this regard, Mr. Sudhir Sonthalia shared, “We are staunch supporters of AtmaNirbhar Bharat mission, but imposing ADD on mono-toner cartridges at the present stage is unwelcome because it will only increase the burden on the end-users in addition to putting financial pressure on the importers and also sellers. Currently, there are about 6 domestic cartridge makers who are simply assembling the imported cartridge components, not manufacturing in the true sense. Next, they are able to assemble only about 30 cartridge variants against 400 variants for A4 printers and 250 variants for A3 printers needed in the market; and in terms of volumes, they could assemble only 100,000 or 10% of the total volume of 10,00,000 needed per month by the market. Therefore, until the setup to manufacture is ready in India, importing cartridges is unavoidable. Imposing ADD on the cartridges will increase the price of each cartridge by over 30%, which will have to be ultimately borne by the end users. For importers and partners, the profit margins in the imaging industry have been shrinking on all the compatible products for the past several years and the ADD is set to make the margins shrink further because the selling prices often cannot be increased in proportion to the cost and duty additions. Hence, the government’s decision finally not to impose ADD is a great relief to most of the players in the Industry. We had to work a lot and convince several officials at different levels to get the earlier order stalled. Most importers and compatible brands who were not in favor of ADD gave up hope and thought pursuing will not get any result. But we despite being a small 3-member team persisted and pursued the matter diligently. We are glad that finally our efforts bore fruit. We relentlessly pursued the matter with DGTR, Ministry of Finance and at the High Court and the Supreme Court. Once government and others could create an ecosystem where components are made in India and available at reasonable prices, we will definitely support Make in India. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the Honorable Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman ji (Finance Minister, Government of India) and Shri Pankaj Chaudhary ji (Minister of State for Finance, Government of India) for resolving the problems of all the traders based on our humble request letter. Had the ADD on the cartridges been passed, no trader in the industry would have operated effectively. This is not just our victory, but a victory for the entire imaging industry including the users of the compatible cartridges in India.”       

Mr. Sharad Midha, President, Sumanglam International Pvt Ltd, cited, “In India, the requirement of mono-toner cartridges is over 10 lakhs per month, whereas the domestic assemblers could provide hardly 1 lakh, that is hardly 10% of the requirement. Even these 10% cartridges are simply assembled here using the imported components. Hence, their claim of Made in India is simply incorrect. Further, these 10% assembled cartridges have quality issues and returns are high. If the ADD is imposed at this stage, it will push up the costs of cartridges by over 30% which puts the burden on the end users as well as on the importers and domestic brands. On the other hand, if ADD is imposed, the domestic cartridge assemblers will make big profits as they will have huge margins compared to importers as a result of duty exemption on the components. We are glad that the authorities finally complied with our request and decided not to implement ADD. We are not against making in India, but make in India will be meaningful where there is proper domestic infrastructure. The right way is we should focus on what we could produce efficiently for domestic consumption and also to export, than imposing heavy duties on the imports of goods that are essential to run the routine operations and which cannot be made domestically at present.”

Mr. Sanjeev Chaudhury, Delco Copier, commented, “We have put our best efforts to convince the appropriate decision-making departments not to implement ADD on mono-toner cartridges and we are glad that we are finally successful. We do support Make in India, but it will take at least 5 more years for the domestic industry to make cartridges in India. The domestic assemblers could hardly provide 10% of the requirement; they do not have the dies to manufacture many models domestically. Imposing ADD at this stage will only increase the cost burden on the end user by over 30% besides putting undue pressure on importers and domestic compatible brands. We do support Make in India, but the government and other players should develop the manufacturing ecosystem in India before imposing ADD.”

In a nutshell

The ADD if imposed would have made the cartridges over 30% costlier. The government’s decision to finally drop ADD on the imported mono-toner cartridges is a big relief to the importers, domestic brands and partners, in an industry which is already under the pressure of shrinking margins. It also relieves the burden on the domestic consumers for now.

Covered By: Imaging Solution / Anti-Dumping Duty

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