At least, that's what the public sector marketing enterprise "" Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) "" has been crying out loud these days. The company's leading brands in the SNB category "" Lekhak and Vidya "" are now facing intense competition from knock-offs (products bearing a trademark name or logo or any other identity that is not manufactured by the company that owns the trademark). According to MSIL officials, the company is losing over Rs one crore in the SNB market every year because of these two brands being faked. |
MSIL's annual turnover is Rs 300 crore and of this, the contribution of the paper division (which markets notebooks) is Rs 30-32 crore. The state's current notebook market size is estimated around 10,000-12,000 metric tonnes, about 50 per cent of which is contributed by MSIL.
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"We can earn more money if the counterfeit operators are stopped from having a free run. Lekhak and Vidya notebooks are familiar to a majority of the parents and students in the state and the counterfeit notebook manufacturers are trying to exploit the popularity of these brands to their advantage," MSIL general manager (paper) V Ganesh told the Business Standard.
MSIL's entered the notebook market in 1976 when 'Lekhak' notebooks were supplied to studentc after the state government agreed to subsidise the paper cost.
Lekhak became an instant hit because of the superior quality paper and at one point these notebooks were distributed through the public distriction system. But with the government withdrawing subsidy on paper in the early 1980s, Lekhak began to lose ground in the market, which had been dominated by several small players.
Many consumers felt that Lekhak's price was too high and started preferring other brands. However, MSIL succeeded in consolidating its consumer base by introducing the 'Vidya' brand in 1984.
These notebooks were priced lower than the market rates that prevailed in the late 1980s and that pushed up sales for MSIL. At present, MSIL has a range of 146 notebooks on its shelf and 80 stockists all over the state..
"Our notebooks set a benchmark on the quality and price fronts in the state," said Ganesh.
The paper used in the notebooks are sourced from Mysore Paper Mills and are of 60 gsm (grams per square metre), a high quality paper which does not allow ink to blot or leave an imprint on the rear.
"As writing is a pleasure, the high quality of paper made the Vidya notebooks popular among students," said Ganesh before adding: "The increasing popularity cost us as several unscrupulous notebook manufacturers saw a good opportunity to make some quick money. They started faking the Vidya brand."
The menace is quite severe in the rural areas of the state where a majority of the people identify brands on the basis of the colour on the exterior. The fake manufacturers, who use the low quality 50-54 gsm paper or paper that is baggasse and bamboo-based, manufacture notebooks by retaining the cover page and rear page with colour combinations similar to that of the original brand.
In some cases, they alter the brand names. For instance, Vidya would be printed as 'Viidya'. They reduce on the number of pages too as neither the parents nor the students usually count. For instance, a 192 pages notebook will, in reality, only have about 180-185 pages.
For the counterfeit operators, pushing the notebooks into the market is not a herculean task. "The retailers are willing to sell the fake notebooks as their profit margins are higher than that for Vidya notebooks. While MSIL allows a retailer to take 20 per cent margin on the maximum retail price (MRP), the fake notebooks will get them 80-90 per cent margin on the MRP," Ganesh said.
The counterfeit players keep the same as that of MSIL, but offer notebooks at heavily discounted prices to customers. In other words, if the notebook supplied by the counterfeit player costs Rs 6-7 for the retailer, the latter sells it for Rs 10-12. The student and his parents feel happy as they have got notebooks for lesser price.
Sale of Vidya knock-offs is quite rampant in the northern parts of the state like Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Koppal and Raichur.
Recently, MSIL officials and the police seized a book store in Bagalkot after they detected sale of fake Vidya notebooks. Investigations, however, hit a dead end as the manufacturer, who is reportedly based in Gulbarga, has not been identified. "It is difficult to locate fake manufacturers as there is no technology application involved in the process. Notebook conversion is manual and anybody can do it," Ganesh said.
Notebook faking is likely to increase in future as more educational programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are being taken up, which naturally push up the demand for notebooks.
At present, on an average, a student in rural Karnataka used 12 notebooks and a student in the cities like Bangalore and Mysore consumes 30 notebooks.