Even as the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has been seeking a waiver on the 5% customs duty that exists on imported newsprint, some leading publishers feel the move is irrelevant. N Murali, joint managing director, Kasturi & Sons (publisher of The Hindu) believes the body is barking up the wrong tree. ?5% customs duty is a negligible amount, it is irrelevant if you ask me.?
M P Veerendrakumar, chairman & managing director of Mathrubhumi believes more needs to be done in addition to the 5% customs duty waiver asked by the body. ?There?s a 4% value-added tax levied on newsprint in a few states including Kerala. This takes up the duty structure to 9%.
This has to go. Besides, domestic newsprint manufacturers have increased their price significantly in recent months. I don?t think this is justified.?
In the last one-month, domestic newsprint prices have gone up by Rs 9,000 touching Rs 35,000 per tonne from the earlier Rs 26,000. For the record newsprint costs make up 60-65% of a publishers total production cost.
Hindustan Newsprint, in particular, which is a key manufacturer of newsprint in the country, is said to be charging this figure. Others such as Mysore Paper Mills have priced their newsprint a bit lower at about Rs 33,000 per tonne.
Though the price of coal and old newsprint?key inputs that get into the manufacture of domestic newsprint?have gone up, publishers in general are of the opinion that Rs 35,000 per tonne is too steep a hike. ?I can accept the range of about Rs31,000-33,000 per tonne. But Rs 35,000 per tonne is too high,? says Mohit Jain, director, commercial, Times of India (TOI). Jain, who is also the chairman of the newsprint committee at INS, is responsible for buying newsprint at TOI.