The discussion, following a plant visit of TechNova’s digital plate manufacturing plant, was dominated by safeguard duty imposed by the Indian government on the import of rolled aluminium products from China; especially litho-grade aluminium coils which are used for manufacturing of printing plates.
TechNova plans to appeal to the government to create a level playing field by exempting import of litho-grade aluminium from the safeguard duty. The AIFMP has supported this petition.
Pranav Parikh, chairman and managing director of TechNova stated: "The issue of safeguard duty on litho-grade aluminium is a serious one. It results in an inverse duty structure, i.e. Safeguard
Duty on raw material, while there is no safeguard duty on the import of the finished products (offset plates) made from this raw material. If this continues, it can have serious consequences for the future of the offset plate manufacturing industry in India".
While Manoj Mehta, president of the AIFMP deplores the idea of protectionism, he is full of admiration for how TechNova has served the industry. And so the AIFMP has decided to "support this cause as it is in the interest of the Indian print industry."
The issue is: inverse duty structure is resulting in higher cost of imported litho-grade aluminium coils which constitute 60%-70% of the cost of a plate, plus lower prices of Chinese plates which are not subject to safeguard duty. According to TechNova, "this anomaly is creating a disadvantage for Indian plate manufacturers."
Have your say in the Printweek Poll
Related stories
Latest comments
"Sorry to read this, a big name to go down, hopefully a lot of the £1.8M was insured. We are recruiting operational staff & currently in-talks to assist the clients with immediate requirements."
"£1.8m !! Very big numbers indeed."
"Now black really is white. Ditching a product line with all its consequences for customers is now an award winning move. Priceless!"
Up next...
Values group at £3.5bn
Royal Mail: IDS takeover bid upped by 15.6%
Charity approaching 200th year
King Charles III becomes patron of The Printing Charity
Mixed signals on the state of trade
Industry output maintained in Q1 as expectations rise for Q2
Incoming orders "solid"