The impact of the Covid-19 virus looms large on the printing industry. In the past several years, the printing industry has gone through ups and downs as a consequence of specific measures and regimes put in place by the Indian government. Similarly, the impact of COVID-19 is going to be extremely harsh on the overall economy, which was already in bad
shape before the corona effect came to India.
“This is a unique situation that the world is facing for the first time. The printing industry is directly dependent on various core industries and will surely be affected. However, at this
point, we can only make some assumptions about its impact, which seems very fluid at this moment, largely because the decision on lifting the lockdown is still uncertain. Surely enough, every business is under serious threat right now and is merely looking to survive this phase. There will be a serious cash-flow problem once we get back to work, and that will be the real challenge,” says Vinay Kaushal, director of Provin Technos.
Government’s support will define recovery
As the printing industry is hugely dependent on various core industries, there will inevitably be an impact on print demand. “The worst-hit will be the commercial printing sector, which
will witness a steep fall in demand due to a severe lack of cash flow. The publication industry is another that may be equally affected by a fall in demand. The packaging industry will only be hit in the demand for the luxury packaging segment, but the demand from the FMCG sector will compensate for this shortfall. Overall, print demand will severely decline even though it may pick up in the latter part of the year. However, the government’s support for the small and medium sector industries will define how printing in India picks up,” Kaushal adds.
The pharma sector has been classified as a part of essential services during the nation-wide lockdown and remains operational. The central government’s lifting restrictions on some
life-saving drugs gave pharma companies a once in a generation opportunity to dominate the global supply of certain critical medicines. The Indian pharma sector witnessed a brief
moment of euphoria during the pandemic, although specific constraints continue to affect the supply chain. “The pharma sector will be the least affected,” says Kaushal.
Press imports may decline sharply
The coronavirus added to the drupa exhibition postponement is undoubtedly going to have a drastic impact on the number of presses imported by Indian printers in FY 2020-21. While some will wait to take a look at the new technologies to be launched at drupa before investing, others would have to tackle the more considerable challenge of survival in the market after the lockdown ends.“Captial investment will be the least important consideration once the industry opens after the lockdown. The immediate challenge will be to survive. The import of new machines will be severely affected, and achieving even 25% of the FY 2019-20 sales is going to be a huge challenge,” Kaushal explains.
Provin organizes customer webinar
At this moment, almost all printers remain shut except the few who service the essential sectors. “Hence, there is nothing much which needs doing on the machine support side. We, however, are in regular touch with our customers. We conducted a webinar a few days ago, to educate our customers on the procedures to be followed for restarting the presses after the lockdown ends. The webinar highlighted the minor issues that arise in Indian
conditions keeping in mind that the stoppage of the press happened in a very sudden and unplanned manner. This procedure or protocol was established in discussion with RMGT
Japan, and the webinar was well attended,” explains Kaushal. In those places where Provin doesn’t have local engineers, and there is a severe breakdown, Provin immediately arranges a customer visit. Since RMGT in Japan remains operational, technical, and other support from Japan remains available at all times.
