Puneet Agarwal: In breaking the Covid-19 chain, our business chain was broken

What has been the impact of Covid-19 on your business thus far?

As we are a new subsidiary of DGM Global in India, our plans to start manufacturing in India have been delayed. China was closed between January and March and now we are under lockdown. So it may delay our make in India project. But other things are in place. We are in the process of setting us demo and spare centre which should be ready within two months after lockdown is lifted.

In the short term, how are you assessing the risks and planning for the possible impact?

In the process of breaking the chain of Covid-19, our business chain was also broken, and this will take couple of months to reach back the required infrastructure.

Some businesses have acted, asking staff to work from home, doing daily temperature checks, distributing critical tasks across offices, and restricting travel. What steps have you undertaken?

We already implemented government advised safety measures in factory and now the whole team is working from home. We all are in touch through video calls to discuss how to meet customer expectations and working more on knowledge transfer among the team. These days travelling will not be possible as per government regulation and even after lockdown opens, we have to travel in emergency situation only, as until the vaccine comes, we cannot move freely. Employee safety is of prime importance for us.

How is your company staying in touch with your partners / customers?  

We are in regular touch with our vendors to finalise the contracts with them to start immediately after lockdown opens. I personally call five to seven customers every day to know their well being and business complications.

Do you invest in health care, and is there a robust system in place?

Yes, just before the lockdown, we implemented corporate group medical and travel insurance of the DGM India team.

Confluence of creativity and technology will be the key to crafting a successful future in print. One creative print project which can make a difference you?

In DGM context, as a corporate responsibility, we have extended warranty for lockdown period on all our new installations. I think this is a positive and honest approach towards our business partners.

One suggestion for the government?

The government should consider packaging and its supply chain under essential supplies and let them operate with proper guidelines. I heard that many packaging companies got permission to start but factory owners are facing many practical problems like unavailability of board and craft, labour, plate and die, plus logistics.