All India Federation of Master Printers to join hands with IPEX

The All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) will join hands with IPEX to hold exhibitions and seminars for educating its members and to provide adequate exposure with the new development taking place in the field.

R Suresh, president, AIFMP, who was here to participate in the 53rd annual general meeting, told the Business Standard that formal agreement would be signed soon as all formalities have been completed.

He informed that an international exhibition PAMEX would be organized on December 14 in Mumbai in which about 18 countries would place their exhibits and an exhibition of Asian countries would be held in Delhi in October 2007.

Currently, the domestic printing industry is facing acute competition from Chinese products, which are cheaper than anywhere in the world. He stated that its reason was that Chinese government was granting subsidy to its industry.

For instance, Chinese businessmen are to pay just five per cent import duty on sophisticated machinery whereas Indian entrepreneurs have to shell out large amount in shape of taxes for the same. He said besides custom duty on capital goods and raw material there were a number of local, direct and indirect taxes which increase the cost of products.

The three-day exhibition which concluded yesterday saw a large number of businessmen with interest in printing and packaging industry benefiting from it. Digital Printing machine by Xerox and environment friendly silent generator by Kirloskar drew attention of visitors.

According to Kamal Chopra, General Secretary, North India Printers Association, it was for the first time in northern part of the country except Delhi that these sophisticated gadgets were exhibited.

As many as 28 companies from all over the country placed their items in providing opportunity to businessmen from northern India in general and Punjab in particular to enhance their production capacity. Chopra informed that about 1500 units were located across Punjab, including 200 here.

About 300 delegates from all over the country participated in the meet. Prakash Offset Machinery Private Ltd's Prakash 1015 Super Fast, an imitation of Japanese machine, attracted the entrepreneurs for its comparatively low cost.

The same Japanese machine if imported cost about Rs 8 lakh. However, this Indigenous gadget cost about Rs 1.50 lakh.