*NEWS*INDIA:A BOOMING CARTRIDGE BUSINESS

[Anonymous]

Booming Cartridge Business Invites Struggle
The
cartridge refilling and remanufacturing (CRR) industry is set for a
revolution with the entry of global players, investment by Indian
players in quality manufacturing, and also due to increase in customer
awareness.In India, the CRR industry has failed to make a major dent so
far due to the lack of quality standards and an organized industry. The
Indian after-market cartridge segment is estimated to be around Rs
2,400 crore, and growing at 35 percent, of which nearly 35 percent is
contributed by non-OEM supplies. Regrettably, a large chunk of this
market is made up of counterfeits and low-quality refills. Quality CRR
players have managed to capture only 5 percent of the overall
market.I.C.Bansali, Purnima Enterprises, Bangalore comments, “We are
getting good business from cartridge remanufacturing as this field has
lucrative prospects. Also, it is cost saving and environment friendly.
Earlier, there was 50-60% growth in this business. I must add, our main
competitor is HP. And because of these big vendors we are feeling
uncomfortable with this business.”The most unfortunate part of the
Indian CRR industry is that it is not organized. The industry has been
dominated by fly-by-night operators using spurious inks and spares
which has created a bad reputation for the entire industry.To address
this issue, serious players have now formed an industry association
called ICRRA (Indian Cartridge Remanufactures and Recyclers
Association) with a three-point agenda—to provide respectability and
legitimacy to the business, lobby with the government and other
influential industry bodies to promote the industry, and infuse quality
standards to make it world-class. The entire emphasis of the
association is on ensuring the adoption of the best-quality standards.

Comments
Pankaj Nebhwani, Director, Evershine Digitech Pvt. Ltd., “This
association is helping us a lot. Because of all big vendors entering in
to the market we people are facing lots of problems such as prices are
increasing, margins are going down. For our convenience ICRRA is doing
their job as good as they can. They have set particular prices for
buyers as well as sellers.”Even the government sector, one of the
highest consumers of printing supplies, is turning receptive to the use
of recycled cartridges. Many government departments use CRR but they
are not sourced through the official channel. The government should
make it mandatory for all its offices to allow the remanufactured
products category in their tenders; this will further encourage the
industry and provide a level-playing field.With the general opinion in
favour of the CRR industry, it is all set for a boom. However, much
will depend on how soon the industry can organize itself, build scale
and create strong brands. All parameters suggest that by 2010 we will
see the industry takes off in a big way.Do you see an end to the
struggle aroused in the cartridge business?

[Author]

January 2, 2008 at 2:24 PM