Printing in Gujarat is mainly dominated by textile-based jobs. With garments and textile being one of the largest sources of employment for people, many industries are dependent on this segment— printing being one of them. According to experts in the industry, the recent implementation of goods and services tax (GST) will have a short-term effect on printing businesses but will positively streamline the fragmented ones.
GST streamlines operations
The printers in Gujarat have observed that the implementation of GST has made life easier for printers in more ways than one. This has led to a positive maintenance of accounts and
work. “We have seen that the garment industry was very much fragmented and with the GST in place, businesses have streamlined their activities as well. The implementation of GST has helped us to maintain accounts of our clients at ease and managing their accounts has become easy,” observes Mukesh Jain, partner at Jain Offset Print, Surat.
Larger volumes will sustain
Sharing similar views, Moeen Hasan, marketing and technical director, Saiswaram Tradelinks says, “We have seen negative effects to a certain extent but have managed to keep up with our work as we deal with large volumes. Today, the converters with larger volumes will find it easy to sustain but the ones with shorter volumes will face difficulty. Job processes have increased and not volumes for one particular job.”
On a positive note, printers are happy with the relaxations that the GST Council has brought with it, lowering GST to 17% from the earlier 28%. The billing process for printers has become much easier and every business is upgrading itself with well-maintained accounting procedures under GST. Printers in the region, who were planning to import more machines for expanding their ambit, have also benefitted with the relaxation in GST rates. Lowering the rates has instilled more confidence among the printers guild, who have
started leveraging the market condition by aggressively expanding their infrastructure.
According to an experienced manager from marketing, “The expansion pace had become slow in the last 6 months, which is now gaining momentum. Also, we have seen that now due to the universal tax, many businesses have started buying land and expanding their businesses. We hope that the coming days will see a stronger and more robust market.”
