Confidence building

“It’s not only on duties but also on freights and logistics that have been affected due to the current rupee depreciation because we have manufacturing units only in the US,” said Bharat Damani, VP- business development (South Asia), Arlon. His word is not to frighten anyone in the industry. Bharat considers the situation quite a challenging part of business. So, Arlon sticks to their old price tags, no hike at all in their product costs so far. “We are absorbing the effective increase without passing it on to our customers as it is only now that people are beginning to get an awareness of our products and it will be absolutely wrong time to increase prices in such crucial period,” conveyed Bharat.

Feeling the pinch of the market crisis, Rajesh Garg, CMD, Sedna Impex India Pvt Ltd said, “We sympathetically know that after increasing the product prices, our customers are buying but crying.” But he mutually suggests every industry fellow not to be skeptical about such market calamity as everybody should take it in a positive approach in mind. Referring the circumstance, Hirofumi Kitaguchi, GM marketing & sales, Mimaki opined that the market will probably be emerged out of the current slumber by October this year. As stress removing initiative in regard to overall costs of their equipments, Mimaki is launching new 10 ft Latex printer to delight their knocked over customers.

“Economic factor like rupee depreciation is not instantly controllable, as it could occur anytime out of any unexpected situation. In such challenging situation we should find solutions like offering of new and innovative product lines to the customers to subside the ongoing market anguish,” admitted Imtiaz Batkoo, country category manager, HP Sign & Display. In a similar tone, Mukesh Patel of SMK Digital opined about the current market situation to be tackled up positively to abate any misunderstanding with customers.

Pradeep NS, business manager, Efi wisely analysed the market situation, “It’s now like the condition of the ‘survival of the fittest’ as we must take up some decisive solutions to control the situation.” He recommended reformation in printing costs as one of the many ways to justify the current market scenario. Pointing at the skewed market in the first and second quarters this year, Anadi, director, Apsom Infotex agreed to the fact that demand in the market has been affected in a bad shape but he is confident about speedy recovery.

“It is quite a visible scene that whenever the market goes down, people stop investing in new machines. But it’s not always true as now is the high time for people to invest in new technologies and machines surging vastly across the industry. I agree that the pricing is important but there is no point of losing your profitability because of opting low priced machineries or technologies. So, my idea is to look into quality and long-term products, irrespective of the bad economic situation,” said Namrata S Gargi of XAAR India.

Hopeful recovery

Saying no retreat at all, Sumit Dev, director, Britomatics confidently affirmed, “The situation will be picked up by the end of this year as the whole industry is looking forward to that.” In order to track their customers off the current gloomy market, Britomatics is introducing a UV printer with Konica printheads, advising their customers to be innovative to tap new business. Prakash Chopra, regional business manager, Arrow Digital Pvt Ltd said, “Though we have increased 20 percent of our product prices, we believe it won’t hurt the sentiment or buying habit of our customers as we are offering them innovative interior, industrials and architectural printing on versatile UV flatbed machines like Jetrix. This is phenomenal segment everybody can embark upon for new business start.”

“Irrespective of the current market slowdown, people should see other bright side of the market as this is good time for the people who wanted to grow with a good reason. They should think of newer technology like UV in India. And regarding the steep slowdown in the market I leave it to the government to control it sooner than later,” said Shailesh Mehta, director, Mehta Cad Cam Systems Pvt Ltd. “Apart from the fact that the current market is experiencing a big fall due to rupee depreciation, there is something we should learn to diversify such situation by choosing newer verticals for fresh business aspects,” suggested Sanjay DJ of Siare Technologies.

Dinesh Sharma of Dinesh Plastic revealed, “We have slightly increased the cost of our products. But I hope people are slowinga djusting themselves into the situation, which is quite a natural market phenomenon.” Positive viewpoint of Deepak Kumar Wadhwa of Infinity Digital Solutions Pvt Ltd remarked, “There is not much of a problem because of rupee value going down. It is more of the consciousness of the customers about where the direction of the economy is heading to. That is the problem which is keeping everybody in a low side. And we just keep our fingers crossed for speedy normalisation of the situation.”

Accepting the fact that the current market got dipped into low point, Girvir Singh Negi of Negi Sign Systems & Supplies Co said that every industry fellow must face boldly with such economic situation whenever it takes place. He admitted that they have increased 10 percent in their product costs as a solution to the problem. In a similar manner, Kishore Narayanan, associate VP, SRF Limited felt the same pinch as they switched to six percent increase in product prices. “Subsequently we face skewed demands of our products due to the price increase,” he said with a hope to see the market coming to normal soon.

Customer caring

Irrespective of whatever surging up in the current market which eventually bothers both supplies and demands, some companies feel they shouldn’t pass on the burden to their customers. “Of course, the current market atmosphere is relatively gloomy. But we are not revising product prices as we don’t want to give hardships to our customers,” said Manish Agarwal of AT Inks adding that the situation would remain awhile around. Navneet Gupta of Aron International agreed to the fact that the company’s 15 percent increase in product costs might upset their customers. “But it has not been deterring their demands or buying habits,” he revealed adding that they could observe gradual increase in demands for quality materials in the market.

“Any economic crisis in the market should be treated in a very optimistic way. We are trying to increase some percent in our product price but we couldn’t do that because it would trouble our customers,” said Vishal Doshi of Gita & Company adding that the situation will come to normal when demands catch up in a proper manner with the introduction of innovative products or materials. Similarly, Raj Chopra of Keith Electronics Pvt Ltd has a reason to defend the sentiment of his customers. “We have relevantly increased the price of our products. But most of our customers believe in restoration of dollar value to normal. So, they have kept their old orders on hold, waiting for market normalcy,” he said adding that they would go along the fulfillment of their customers.

Rajat Mitra of Caldron is another messiah who bears the pain of market slowdown on behalf of their customers. “We cannot increase prices of our machineries under an unconditional reason that it would make difficult for our clients who are otherwise struggling with the existing prices,” he remarked. Rajat is very confident about the situation to be recovered in a short period as a lot of developments in the relative market segments like retail sector and others are phenomenally booming across the country.

Negotiable situations

During the onset of the current market slowdown which really hit the industry in an alarmed situation, many people stepped back temporarily to safe haven just for time being. But the situation today is somewhat like normal as people gradually start accepting hiked dollar values. “Many dealers stocked some products to fight the increased prices. But it wouldn’t last long unless we are not able to walk along the situation hand-in-hand,” said Vinit Rathi of VMS. He also mentioned that increase in price tags is not the right decision as it may affect long-term relationship with big clients in the corporate segment. Nishant Gattani, director, Silver Sign Pvt Ltd shared his persuasive view on the current market commotion. He mentioned that Silver Sign connects with end-users through dealers only. “So what we can do is to boost up the sentiments of those people associated with us to give them courage to fight the current market situation,” he heralded with an inspiring anticipation to retrieve the situation into normal state. Charanjeet Singh of Poly Plast Corporation has the same sentiment to see the market being recovered sooner than expected. “We consider depreciation seriously and looking forward to the calmness after the storm,” he remarked.

Santosh Mishra, head marketing, VIN Lighting has a twist in the story of current market crisis. “It’s painful to know that many in the industry face heavy losses as they drastically trim down their normal import volumes due to rupee depreciation. But in our case, we are into manufacturing and could easily control or manipulate as per the current market pricing,” he revealed. Deepak Gupta, director, Sun Sign & Technologies is also the one who is fairly optimistic about the overall growth and development taking place across the industry. He quoted the company’s fresh range of cost effective materials to pave new paths of innovations, which would uplift the withered market being crippled in the current economic slowdown.

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