Struggling Sivakasi Printing / Color Offset Printing units

Article by Mr. S. Sundar (The Hindu)

SIVAKASI, APRIL'2004. Printing units at Sivakasi have taken a beating following proliferation outside the State, the Election Commission's restrictions on campaign and the inroads made by television.

Election-2004 is yet to produce any bulk order for the offset units here. What was once the printing capital of the south is struggling with a negligible volume of business.

With units mushrooming not only outside the town but also the State, thanks to technological advancements, this `Kutti Japan' is no longer the most preferred place for printing.

``Printing units in Sivakasi are silent these days,'' says A. Kumaravel, president of the Sivakasi Master Printers' Association. Sivakasi ruled the industry as long as ``artist works'' such as painting and retouching remained a secret of the town. But automation of pre-press works, with the advent of computers, has made this ``highly-skilled'' work child's play. ``With colour scanners on hand, designing is now possible just on the (computer) screens,'' says R. Chockalingam, a leading printer.

More printing orders for election posters have now gone to Karnataka, he said.

Another leading player, A. Gnanasekaran, says the major parties have divided the print orders into ``south and north''. ``Freight charge and a local lobby work against us,'' he said. ``No party will like to pay an additional freight charge of Rs. 2,500 a tonne (for one way) and with the burden of Rs. 5,000 a tonne (two-way) we are not competitive enough to get orders from north India''.

Besides, there is no flow of orders from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala because of the ``local lobby''. ``The politicians there prefer to give orders only to local units,'' Mr. Gnanasekaran said. Only orders which the ``local units'' could not handle came to Sivakasi, he said.

Even orders for pamphlets, door slips and handbills are not encouraging.

Mr. Kumaravel said the Election Commission's curbs had a telling impact on the industry even during the 2001 Assembly poll, with its insistence on the printers producing the actual invoice and samples of posters printed for the parties. ``This has made the partymen reduce their print orders''. The restriction on hoardings also dealt a blow to the industry, said the association secretary, A. Raja Sankar.

The overdependence by parties on television for campaigning has contributed to slackness in the printing industry. However, the industrialists feel that only posters will have a long-lasting impact on the voters, especially among rural masses. The posters gave effective publicity to the candidates and their symbols in villages.

All that the printing industry here wants is a minimum order to keep the machines running, not to speak of profit-making.