ICRRA begins Chennai operations

NR Sethuraman Chennai, Oct 5

In order to make cartridge refilling and remanufacturing legal
and make people aware of the legal remanufacturing of cartridges, Indian
Cartridge Remanufacturers and Recyclers Association, (ICRRA) has started its
operations from Sep 29, 2007 in Chennai. Around 150 cartridge remanufacturers
and recyclers were present at the occasion.

ICRRA, which was started in Bangalore in June 2007 with the aim
of promoting printer cartridge remanufacturing industry in India, has now moved
to Chennai to scale up their operations. Speaking on the occasion, Gopi Verma,
President, ICRRA said, "Most printer manufacturing vendors claim that our
industry is illegal and a few have even taken an oath to kill our refilling and
remanufacturing industry to safe guard the interest of their customers. But we
want to prove to them that our business is legal and we want to provide quality
material to our customers."

Claiming that refilling industry is a Rs 864 crore business in
India, Verma said that around 40,000 small businesses selling to and servicing
end-users are looking for alternatives to expensive OEM printer cartridges.
"Worldwide, cartridge remanufacturing is an established industry with major
players like Xerox, IBM, NCR, Staples, Wal-Mart, Cartridge World etc holding
approximately 30 percent stake in the market. They offer remanufactured
cartridges for low costs under their brand name with 100 percent OEM
quality," Verma said.

Verma informed that the association would urge refillers and
remanufacturers to provide superior quality cartridges and gain the confidence
of customers. Also, a number of education programs would be conducted for the
partners in the consumables and refilling industry to facilitate the initiative.

Deepak, General Secretary, ICRRA said, "Our partners have
to create awareness about the industry among channel partners by providing
superior quality cartridge refilling and remanufacturing. The association would
sit with printer and cartridge manufacturers like HP and Samsung, and brief them
about the organized and unorganized refilling industry to stop attacks on the
refillers."

Verma also shared that the refilling industry could get ISO
certificates if they provide quality refilling.

Sanjeev Mahajan, Active Member, ICRRA claimed that the future
for color printers and cartridges is bright and partners have to upgrade
themselves and maintain unity amongst each other to sustain in the market.
"Most of the consumables are procured from China, as they are available at
low rates. Instead, we can make our customer and partners understand that
remanufacturing the cartridges would be the best choice, in terms of cost and
from an environment point of view," he added.

The functions of ICRRA include to promote the globally
competitive remanufacturing industry, reassure and provide printer users with
proven high quality products through its members, focus on export promotion and
attracting foreign outsourcing in the Indian remanufacturing industry and create
an eco friendly environment through an unique project.