Stationery Industry: A Road Ahead
Small and Medium Enterprises play a vital role for the growth of Indian economy
by contributing 45% of industrial output, 40% of exports, 42 million employments,
create one million jobs every year and produce more than 8000 quality products
for the Indian and international markets. As a result, MSMEs are today exposed to
greater opportunities for expansion and diversification across the sectors
The emergence of new technologies has a mixed impact on various industries.
With new technology and falling prices for computers, printers and software are
reducing the cost of business mail communication; on the other hand, focus on
education by governments of various developing countries has increased the
demand of stationary and paper products substantially.
Stationery Industry is a very heterogeneous group of business usually associated
with the Schools, Collages, and Office and plays a very crucial role in working of
any organization across the globe. It includes Paper stationery which comprises of
a vast collection of products like exercise books, note books, stitch, glued & tape
pads, refill pads, flap over pads, subject books, plastic cover books etc. The huge
greeting card market, autograph books, party invites etc, is also a part of this
segment.
Paper and paper related products are tremendously gaining demand in the market.
Out of which paper stationery market over the years has gained immense
popularity in the school and office segment throughout the world. Revolution for
these products has come to birth from the past few year’s majorly in developing
nations and it's having immense value in terms of export and import.
It is expected that Stationery industry has a flourishing future in it's coming years
in India and over a period is estimated to grow at 10 to 15% p.a. To achieve this
objective, one can actually see that how acceptance of Internet technology has
opened plethora of opportunities of sourcing the desired supplier in any part of the
world. The manufacturers of various countries including India, China, Indonesia
etc have started building new product strategies, which helps in reducing their
overall cost without compromising on quality thus producing a good quality
product at competitive price.
Falling under the category of Small and Medium Enterprises in majorly most of
the countries, this sector has lot to offer in terms of employment, tax revenues, it
can be an important source of new innovative products, extensive local knowledge
of resources, and can be a major service provider to the larger organizations.
However, this sector like other sectors have certain bottlenecks which hinder the
growth of this sector like Burdensome regulatory frameworks, Lack of tax
incentives and subsidies, Absence of investor-friendly environment, Lack of access
to finance, Lack of capacity-building programs and inadequate provision of
vocational training etc.
Indian stationery Industry: Opportunities and Challenges
In the international arena India is providing more scope for development and
trends; however, with excellent quality, the Indian products are very much in
demand. The Indian SME’s associated with stationery market has witnessed
tremendous dynamic changes. In the last decade the Indian market has increased
varieties to be exported in markets and has produced big market percentage.
Indian Paper Stationery Industry, which is a part of the huge and scattered Indian
stationery Industry, has been going through tremendous alteration in recent years.
Despite fierce competition from neighboring markets, its scattered nature and the
constantly changing trends, the paper stationery industry makers continue to make
every effort, due to which the fruitful results are coming slowly and steadily.
Indian companies have learnt that innovation, performance and versatility are the
key area to be focused upon. Taking the points under consideration, the
businessmen are now researching and developing new products, as the market is
now more of consumer oriented which is always looking for cost effective prices.
This is because of the attitude of buyer which is now ready to spend more if a
reliable product is offered to him.
With seasonal export market which stays from April-June major importing
countries like U.S.A., Australia, Canada, major African countries and Middle East
are the ones which accept Indian designs and style comfortably. With extreme
precautions, and the good quality products offered and new marketing strategies
are followed, the government has also come out with various incentives for SME’s.
Particularly for stationary industry if we quote would be the education
enhancement schemes which are giving growth to this sector. The Indian
stationery market is also influenced by macroeconomic development, national
income and lasts but not the least the ever-growing Indian population.
The Indian stationery Industry is highly unorganized and the organized players are
estimated to be less than the unorganized sector players due to which unorganized
stationery players are expanded throughout the industry and controls major
market share.
However, Indian stationary industry is facing major competition from the Importer
especially Chinese manufacturers are the most competitive among all the other
world market players as they have an advantage of mass production capacity,
aggressive favorable government export policy, simplified low taxation and well
developed infrastructure.
Stationery Industry: Introspection Time
Indian businessmen involved in the business of stationary items needs to work on
proper research and development of the sector. Design, Colors, Quality, Themes,
reaching the right partners and to find out new markets for their products should
be on their agenda. Government at their level is taking initiatives; however, to
bring in a spurt in the trade there is a need to focus on providing assistance to
businessmen for buying good machinery, necessary infrastructure should be
provided, to enhance export activities, workshops, conferences and training
programs should be conducted at state and national level. Logistics is also a key
concern that goods should reach on time which helps in maintaining a relationship
with various customers across the globe.
EconomyWatch.com Guest Author: Himanshu Talwar, 2009.