Government to ban import of old kit; industry reacts

The Government of India has decided to impose a ban of import of machinery that is more than five years old, aimed to help boost domestic manufacturers as well as increase competitiveness.

02 Apr 2015 | By PrintWeek India

Nirmala Sitharaman, minister for commerce and industry in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said, “Government has decided not to allow import of machinery more than five years old unless a different maximum age is specified by the Department of Commerce in consultation with concerned ministry/department and National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC).”

The decision to impose the ban has sparked critics from some in the print fraternity.

According to Kamal Chopra of Foil Printers in Ludhiana, someone who has been at the forefront opposing the move, said, “I think this ban is not at all good for the printing industry. The cost of pre-owned machines will go up so will the cost of new ones.”. He added, “Small printers with small investment options may not be able to afford these almost new-like machines, and be the sufferers.”

He also quipped that it will be interesting to see how the Indian print equipment manufacturers respond, particularly with their pricing.

Dev Nair, president of All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP), calls the decision to generalise the manufacturing sector as unfortunate.  “One, the high-tech multi-colour printing machines are not manufactured in India. Moreover, a young pre-owned printing press is beyond the reach of many printers, hence they prefer to import older used machines.”

Nair added, “Whether or not, the import of older secondhand printing machines in no way affects the domestic manufacturers, who are mostly post-press printing machine manufacturers.”

Last December, AIFMP had written to the ministry of commerce and industry, drawing to the many concerns the printing industry had on the issue of ban on imported secondhand machine.

Following this decision, the Federation has again sought a personal hearing from the minister of commerce and industry, to explain the printing industry’s concerns. “I am sure we will be able to convince the honourable minister about the importance of secondhand machine import.”

 PrintWeek India sent a message to IPAMA, response to which is awaited.