COVID-19 awareness provides jobs: Ranjit Raghuvanshi, Sai Graphics, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra
03 October 2020: I established my printing press in 2020 after my post-graduation. Before starting off my printing business, I worked as a computer operator in a printing press where I developed my interest in printing. My 5,000 sq. ft printing unit has Senora 1925 4 colour offset, Ryobi 1218 offset and solvent and eco-solvent digital printing for flex output. (10 ft x 6 ft width).
Ours is a normal commercial printing business. Although digital technology has taken over some share of the offset printing, there has no dearth of orders for our printing press in the last two decades. We source all our raw materials from Nagpur which is about 180 km from Gadchiroli.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, we had enough stock. We received a lot of COVID-19 related jobs from the government departments such as pamphlets, posters, leaflets for public distribution and for placing at public locations for awareness. A lot of other printing presses have also received different kind of printing jobs such as banners, posters, etc. for COVID-19 awareness.
Except these jobs, printing orders are very negligible. There has been loss/wastage of printed jobs worth Rs.1.80 lakh due to COVID-19 lockdown. Although lockdown is being lifted, there is still apprehension in the minds of people. They do not spend money, because there is not much income due to job loss or closure of businesses and factories.
When there is no regular flow of income, naturally people do not spend much and it affects the market sentiments. Our wedding card business has also taken a big hit. The recent trouble in the printing industry is that Government has decided to stop ordering printing of diaries, calendars and such other giveaways. As a result, I feel it will affect the printing industry as the government is going to reduce printing jobs by almost 70%. In our case we had 30-40% printing orders from the government sector and now it will drastically come down. And ours is a small town and there is not much scope to expand and we cannot get jobs from other big cities also.
Although I know the applications of screen printing, I never thought of investing in it as a few screen printers in our town cater to all the existing screen printing needs of the local market. Although once upon a time our area was hit by Naxalites, there has been not much noticeable trouble. People feel that if we mind our attitudes and behaviours towards others, they will also react positively. Gadchiroli is a town and a municipal council in Gadchiroli district in the state of Maharashtra. The town and surrounding area is considered to be beautiful during the monsoon season (July to September) and is surrounded by a teak wood forest.
