IPAMA and OPA clear confusion over ban on import of secondhand machinery
The strife between Indian Printing Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufacturers' Association (IPAMA) and Offset Printers Association (OPA) over one of the points in IPAMA’s representation made to the Government of India on the ban on import of secondhand printing equipment was resolved amicably at a special meeting through the efforts of PrintWeek India.
04 Nov 2014 | 2802 Views | By PrintWeek India
Kamal Chopra, general secretary, OPA travelled to Amritsar to meet KS Khurana, president, IPAMA. After deliberating on the contentious points, Khurana informed Chopra that it wasn’t IPAMA’s intention to impose ban on import of printing presses. “With printing machinery, we meant other machineries used in printing industry, which Indian manufacturers are capable of producing,” said Khurana, expressing regret over the issue.
Chopra said, "Our opposition was only to the ban on imported printing presses, which the representation had sought to demand. Since there are no Indian manufacturers who can produce multi-colour offset printing presses, which are half as good as secondhand imported presses, the ban, I feel, was really not justified. I am glad that Khurana ji has clarified IPAMA's position on the matter.”
IPAMA will be hosting its flagship event PrintPack India in February 2015, while the Federation’s Pamex will be held in Mumbai towards the end of 2015.
Khurana said, "I am thankful to Kamal Chopra ji for coming all the way to Amritsar. We always felt that the printers and Indian print equipment manufacturers should work in tandem. We seek their inputs in improving our products such that the Indian printers will not have to rely on secondhand imported equipment."
He added, "We already have very good examples in Manugraph, Welbound, TechNova and Line O Matic among others, who manufacture world class products."
Now that the air has been cleared, the two associations, IPAMA and AIFMP, will support each other’s activities.
Chopra said, "We have always been working together and have taken each other's suggestions from time to time. And we will continue to do so in the future.
T R Mahajan and Ashok Seth of IPAMA; Ashwani Gupta, managing director, Choice Books & Printers and treasurer of AIFMP; Maninder Singh, president of Offset Printers’ Association, Amritsar; and Mr. Sukesh Bhardwaj, Executive member OPA were also part of the deliberations. Noel D'cunha and Rushikesh Aravakar attended the meeting on behalf of PrintWeek India.