The All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) conducted the export promotion webinar on 19 March 2022 to explain how print exports could be a game changer for print business. The speakers also shared how print exports saw immense growth during the pandemic as compared to the pre-pandemic numbers.

In his welcome address, Chander Pasupathy, president of AIFMP, highlighted how print businesses are effectively coping with the hardships, but also noted issues such as rising container prices for exports.

Manoj Mehta, chairman of Export Promotion at AIFMP, highlighted the importance of the session. He said that 2021 “has impacted our lives in more ways than one”. He also lauded some government initiatives to boost exports.

One such initiative was the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme that was introduced by the finance ministry, Mehta said the scheme has come as “real blessing as it endeavours to put production, manufacturing and export in the spotlight”.

He also stressed that PLIs could eventually reduce India’s trade deficit while boosting manufacturing and exports.

Satish Malhotra, past president of AIFMP and chairman of paper and paper products panel at Capexil, in his keynote address, shared some numbers to crunch. The prominent ones were the Rs 15,000 crores worth of export done in 2019-2020 for paper and paper products in India.

With the advent of the pandemic, the print and packaging industry was negatively affected, “but our exports did not falter,” said Malhotra, adding, “During 2021-2022 (until February), exports rose by 74%, which is a phenomenal growth.” He also predicted that the share of paper exports would go up to 65% this year, more than other paper products.

Nilesh Dhankani, founder and CEO of Quarterfold Printabilities shared his company’s success story. “With continuous investments in production sources, our main focus has always been in the education sector, both in Africa and India,” he said.

Dhankani added that many nations are looking at India as a trade partner due to the low sentiments vis-à-vis China. He also shared how Quarterfold took the opportunity in East and West Africa, where there are no printing facilities and importing books made more sense.

Meanwhile, export consultant Ajit Shah, who was the guest speaker, praised the government for its agenda to encourage exports. He said that the ministry of commerce has placed USD 400 billion as export target and the finance ministry was giving duty drawback schemes for those willing to enter exports business.

Shah also shared many tips and tricks and more numbers to crunch during the webinar, which seems convincing enough for anyone planning to venture into exports.

To know more, read our PrintWeek April issue for the detailed report.