The Rs 1,500 cr Sivakasi print market bounces back

The 75-year-old diary and calendar printing industry in Sivakasi has reported a 20-25% drop in its 2012 turnover, compared to the 2011 turnover of Rs 100-120 crore. The industry, which consists largely of medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs), attributes the loss mainly to severe power shortages.

04 Sep 2013 | By Priya Raju & Samir Lukka

Even today, the print centre of central Tamil Nadu employs about 50,000 people across 750 units. There are 450 printers in the city and 350 firms in allied industries like lamination, scoring and other finishing segment.

Besides notebooks, textbooks, novels and labels, a key business of these units is calendar printing. The Sivakasi print industry’s total annual revenues are Rs 1,500 crore, of which six to seven per cent comes from the seasonal business of diary and calendar printing that transpires place in November and December. The power shortage in Tamil Nadu was a big blow to the 30% of the total production of diaries in the country. 

Top print firms in Sivakasi

 Srinivas Fine Arts would be among the top market leaders, because they constantly innovate innovative and create new designs for their packaging products and diaries.

Lovely Offset is another player who does a lot of export jobs plus wedding cards and is not dependent on the domestic market.

Safire with a raft of presses and CTP systems are one of the largest print firms in South India. They have carved a reputation for being the largest producer of movie posters in India.

Sel Jegat would be a niche label player who play in a different league and not in the commercial print space. They do a lot of specialty jobs, which no one else in Sivakasi (or for that matter Tamil Nadu) has even attempted.

Orient Color Art Printers who regard themselves as top players due to the quality of products and high standards in printing.

Other important printers in Sivakasi are: The National Litho Press, The Coronation Litho Works, Orient Litho Press, The Nadar Press, Sivakasi Industrial Printing Works. These presses are the pioneers of the print Industry in Sivakasi They have been instrumental in the birth and spread of the industry in the town. The growth, the enterprising sprit and the ensuring prosperity in the town have been responsible for Sivakasi to get the name “Kutty Japan”.