Austin D’cunha is an experienced printer having worked with The Indian Express, and having put in stints in both his father’s business and in Saudi Arabia. In 1998, D’cunha ventured on his own to start New Vision. Currently operating in the northern Mumbai suburb of Vasai, the company prints brochures, flyers, leaflets, mailers, catalogs, booklets, posters, tags and cartons.
Austin D’cunha has scaled back his printing operations in recent years as his children show no inclination to join the family business. He sold off his 3,000 square feet facility in Goregaon several years ago and restricted himself to Vasai. “The competition in the commercial printing business is extremely fierce. Although the Ricoh Pro c751 is a very fine machine, I am not able to fully utilize it as volumes have declined sharply in the last one-and-a-half years since I installed it,” adds D’cunha.
Buyback offer
At Vasai, New Vision runs a second- hand 4-color Heidelberg that recently replaced a 2-colour press. For its short- run printing, it deployed a Ricoh Pro c751early last year under a buyback scheme offered by Ricoh. Ricoh took back New Vision’s HP Indigo 1030. “I had bought the HP Indigo way back in early 2006. The technology of 1030 has become obsolete and I wanted to upgrade to newer technology as the Indigo 1030 was not doing justice to my work. So when Ricoh came up with the buyback offer I opted for it,” says D’cunha.
He says volumes have come down
by nearly 70% and his company is
operating with a margin of just 5% to 7%. “If you look around the area where my office is located there are at least five printers offering the same services that I am offering. Just two years ago I was the only one here. This
is how competitive the market has
become. The Vasai market is not big enough for so many players. A market which, say, can be catered by two or three printers is being catered by ten printers. There is too much supply,” stresses D’cunha.
Price-sensitive market
According to him, this situation of overcapacity has been created because many people with very limited knowledge and with out-of-date technology have become printers. “Many of my ex-employees have quit in recent years and ventured on their own. They install some cheap machines and begin to undercut on prices and poach clients. Then it becomes very hard to explain to your clients why you are charging a premium. This is a common phenomenon in the industry. The problem gets compounded because a big chunk of customers is not bothered about quality but only about price,” D’cunha explains.
D’cunha says this problem of oversupply will get corrected in due course of time. “It will take some time, maybe five to seven years, but I feel at
least 35% to 40% of printers in the industry who are inefficient and using obsolete technology will be forced to shut down as this model of operation is clearly not sustainable. Gradually more and more customers will begin to appreciate quality and value addition and not just the price offered. The advent of new media will shake up the industry. Printers will have to incorporate new technology,” he says.
Unfortunately for D’cunha, who is now 65 years old and a great advocate of technology, further technological investments at New Vision on a big scale look remote. “My children are not interested in taking this business forward. They do not find the printing business attractive. They have chosen different careers. Also, I am getting old and feel investing more capital in the business would not make any
sense,” he concludes.
