Morbi ceramic units bet big on digital printing

Morbi-based ceramic manufacturers are slowly moving to digital printing to improve on quality and speed up production. Over the past one year, 150 units have moved from conventional screen printing to digital printing, while many others are adopting the newer designing methods.

"Since past one year, almost 30-35 per cent of the tile makers have adopted European technology to modernise their printing and designing. It is a fact that the industry is not doing well presently, in spite of that manufacturers are adopting modern technology," said M P Shorya, secretary of the Morbi-Dhuva Glaze Tiles Association.

He said, "It (modernisation) will help us to compete in international market. With digitisation, we can serve international the international market as per their design preferences and we hope that it will help us grow our international business in coming days."

The ceramic players have been importing this technology from Italy, Spain and China costing around Rs 2.50 crore. Some players are also adopting Indian technology for digital printing.

"Technology up-gradation is the demand of time. It will help us boost our business. Digital printing started in Morbi when the industry was at its peak last year," Rajesh Patel, former president of the association.

"With domestic market, we are expecting business from overseas market as well. Right now, export from Morbi is around Rs 350 crore," Patel said. To accelerate the export business, Morbi-Dhuva Glaze Tiles Association had organized buyers-seller meet in Morbi in which about 30 countries representatives had participated.

At present, ceramic market is down by around 20-25 per cent in Morbi as real estate sector is not doing well in the country. But industry players hoping that in new year demand will increase.

There are some 750 ceramic product manufacturers in India. Over 500 of them are located in Morbi. The industry’s annual revenue is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore, with Gujarat-based units contributing Rs 7,000-8,000 crore. The industry gives direct and indirect employment to over 600,000 people.