D'cunha says printers have to start managing bottomline

The crux of the discussion for 2014 is, how will print firms boost their bottomlines and what measures will they take to beat the double digit inflation which has been having a domino effect on the industry.

In such times, rising prices (read Anand Srinivasan’s report on paper on pages 23-24) and depleting margins (The Bengaluru roundtable report on pages 34-37), are significant points. Three things are clear for printers:

Focus on your bottomline: Profitability no longer means keeping your cost low. The new definition is keeping a keen eye on competition and competitive pricing.

Financial stability: Although ‘Biting more than you can chew’ ironically, may be a good mantra for growth, firms should choose their investment wisely.

Time horizon: More than 80% of investment decisions are made sans due financial diligence. Which is why, not all of them might end up as expected. Meticulously planning your spending schedule at the start of the year will provide a higher cost-to-benefit ratio.

This is the focus during BMPA’s conference on 24 January. There is one panel session which discusses toplines v/s bottomlines. And, there is a key note address by Ashish Hemrajani, the founder and CEO of BookMyShow.

Hemrajani says, “If you don’t earn money, it’s not dhanda (business). Anything that’s free has no value. Don’t be excitable when the going’s good, or feel bad when the times are low. And do not fear junk competition.”

An finally, I’d like to quote P Narendra of Pragati Offset, “Sole reason for doing business or the GOAL of business is to make money – legally. Doing business and not really having full knowledge of ROIs, RMCs and all the legal obligations of the business will take the business down. Unfortunately these act like leeches and will drain the company. It takes a while but it will go down. The sad part is that during this time it will affect other printers too.”

Noel D’cunha, 
Deputy Editor,
PrintWeek India