‘Romancing Print’ urges Govt to reduce GST on Printing Material

By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 1 May: A one day programme, titled ‘Romancing Print- 2022’, was held here under the aegis of ‘All India Federation of Master Printers’ in collaboration with ‘Noida Offset Printers Association’ and in cooperation with ‘Devbhoomi Painters and Publishers Association’, an organisation of entrepreneurs associated with the print business in the state of Uttarakhand.
The programme, organised at Hotel Viceroy Inn, Niranjanpur, was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, President of All India Federation of Master Printers, P Chander, Offset Printers Association, Punjab, President, Prof Kamal Chopra, President of Noida Offset Painters Association Tarun Aneja and Superintendent of CGST, RK Chauhan.
In her welcome address, the President of Devbhoomi Printers and Publishers Association, Ranu Bisht said that it was a unique event aimed at establishing a dialogue on many aspects related to print business. She said that all the members of the association believed that print businesspersons needed to make a collective effort to deal with the challenges of this sector along with the individual struggle.
On this occasion, CGST Superintendent RK Chauhan provided detailed information on GST to the entrepreneurs. While interacting with the print business persons present, he disclosed many facts related to GST and, at the same time, attempted to clear several prevalent misconceptions about GST. This was followed by a technical session in which the Prof Kamal Chopra spoke about the changing environment of print business in today’s technological era. He stressed on the need to understand, both, the possibilities and challenges present in the print business in future with the development of 3D printing and other new technology. He said that the global printing technology is changing very rapidly and, now, with the help of technology, houses, tools and parts could also be printed. He added that with the new technologies such as 3D technology, printed objects would add a feel and touch aspect too.
After the technical session, there was a motivational speech by Siddharth Prakash in which he said that success could be achieved only by fiercely facing the challenges related to life and business. Patience and courage were the only means of success in the present challenges and difficulties.
Anjali Rawat, General Manager, District Industries Centre, was also present. She spoke about various welfare schemes of the government related to micro and small industries and said that entrepreneurs associated with the printing business ought to also take advantage of these schemes and play an important role in the development of the state. This was followed by an ‘open session’ in which many problems and challenges related to their business were mentioned by the print professionals and traders present. The unanimous opinion of all the businesspersons was that by reducing GST from 18% to 12%, the business could be provided some relief and called upon the government to make serious efforts in this direction. Some businesspersons said that lack of comprehensive information about the plans of micro and small scale industries was also a major obstacle in the development of print business. At the same time, some participants emphasised that changes were made in the rules related to GST or business, but the information was not disseminated adequately and, due to lack of awareness, businesses had to suffer needlessly.
The vote of thanks was proposed by the secretary of the association, Sanjay Verma. Members Mukesh Sharma, Ajit Singh, Yogesh Kapoor, Chandra Prakash, Anil Bhatt, Rakesh Panthri, Ashish Aggarwal, Anil Khantwal, etc., were present. The programme was conducted by Yogesh Kapoor.