Like many concerned industry watchers we were expecting the
final findings of the anti-dumping commission of the commerce ministry to
arrive last week. See our earlier edit-blogs at
http://indianprinterpublisher.blogspot.in. Apparently the visits by commission
members to the relevant factories of the Chinese and Japanese manufacturers
took place in May. Subsequent to the open hearing in which lawyers from
TechNova, Kodak, Fuji, Lucky Huaguang Graphics and the Kerala Master Printers
Association spoke, written submissions were made by them and other concerned
parties. Printers of varying sizes from all over India have written to the
commission and met its members to express their objections to the anti-dumping
duty on digital offset plates.
While it is too early to say what the final findings will
be, one cannot deny that the delay has given hope to many of the printers who
have dared to speak out against TechNova’s claim of injury. These include
Thomson Press, Pragati Offset, Adarsh Offset, the members of the Kerala Master
Printers Association, and several others. As we wrote earlier, the fragmented
printing industry mostly consisting of small and medium players is maturing and
finally some of the medium and bigger players are finding their voice and
speaking out on record. Anti-dumping duty apart, this is the biggest change in
the Indian print industry – that they can with some concerted efforts act
individually and together (as in the case of the Kerala Master Printers
Association) for some worthwhile business objectives beyond their own
individual and personal benefit.
The issue of anti-dumping duty on offset plates is important
and printers and their state associations, and in deed, the newspaper, magazine
and book publishing associations must also look at the issues, enter the
discussion and give their views to the anti-dumping commission of the commerce
Ministry. They must also communicate to the Finance Ministry that the interim
findings not be not be notified until all the questions raised by the concerned
parties are answered and taken into account in the final findings.
— Naresh Khanna
editor@ippgroup.in
An example of the communication sent to the Anti-dumping Commission of the Ministry of
Commerce, Government of India, Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi by Ashish Rajoria of
Adarsh Printers in Bhopal, that was shared with us.
Dear Mr. Satish Kumar,
We are Offset printers based out of Bhopal and we wish to
register a strong objection to the proposed anti dumping duty on offset plates.
In our views Technova is trying to further strengthen its
monopoly in the market. You must be aware that Technova has already either
bought or forced the competition to close shop (example Stovec and Neeraj).
There are many small printers who have paid a higher price
for a CtCP machine, based on the fact that their variable cost will be lower as
they can use conventional offset plates.
We are reminded of the days when automobile industry was
averse to the opening of the market to the international players (example Bajaj
etc were against opening of the market to international players). It is worth
mentioning that even after the opening of the economy, Bajaj has grown and is a
market leader. So why does Technova want to have anti dumping duty, they should
be satisfied with being a market leader and let fair competition prevail.
It is also note worthy that there are various printers who
are exporting print, any such duty will only add to their production cost. Fact
remains that Indian printers are barely able to compete with Chinese printers,
why should Govt. of India make it impossible to printers to get any export
orders at all.
We hope we are heard and justice is done by not imposing
anti dumping duty on offset plates.
Thanks and kind regards,
Ashish Rajoria, Director, Aadarsh Pvt. Ltd.
Shikhar Varta, 4, Press Complex, Zone 1, M.P. Nagar
Bhopal 462011 (M.P.), INDIA
Cell.: +91 9893062555, Fax: +91-755-2555449
E-mail: a.rajoria@aadarsh.com
Anti-dumping Commission: Satish Kumar, Director, telephone
number 011- 2306 3642; eMail:satishk@nic.in ; or,satprag@gmail.com . You can
also download the preliminary findings from
www.commerce.nic.in/writereaddata/traderemedies/adpref_Digital_Offset_Printing_Plates_ChinaPR_Japan.pdf
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