• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

KOLKATA , Nov 12

LINC Pen & Plastics Ltd, in collaboration with the $500-million (Rs 2,250 crore) Mitsubishi Pencil Co of Japan, plans to take up manufacture of international quality hi-tech pens from the stable of the Japanese writing instruments major.

Having a strong presence in the mass segment (below Rs 10 segment), Linc now plans to make a major foray into the high quality market through both assembling and manufacture of some of Mitsubishi's new products in the roller and gel pens segment. The Japanese company is a world leader in Uni-ball pens.

The company today launched "Uni-ball Fusion", a new age colourless ink product from Mitsubishi.

Briefing newspersons here on the special features of its new product and marketing plans, Mr Dipak Jalan, Managing Director of the company, said the new colourless liquid ink pen, priced at Rs 50 each, was aimed at a compact target audience with a penchant for new writing instruments.

The marketing strategy for the new pen, based on the concept of "a pen which writes with water" is now being worked out, as part of a total Rs 4 crore ad spend by the company. According to Mr Jalan, the prime objective of tying up with an international player in the fast evolving writing instruments market was the scope for manufacturing these products at home.

He said Linc was now fully equipped to manufacture these products at its modernised factories in Goa and Kolkata.

The company now markets some 15 roller and gel pens of Mitsubishi, which contribute some 25 per cent to the total sales turnover of the company. Linc has more than 50 products in its armoury, and is well geared to cater to the vast Indian market for writing instruments, set to grow at an annual average of 15 per cent.

Linc has been distributing the Mitsubishi pens from as early as 1992, and was now well poised for both assembling and manufacturing these products on a larger scale to cater to the Rs 1,500-crore Indian writing instruments market. In total, Linc manufactures some 5 lakh pens in various product categories and 4 lakh refills per day at its units in Kolkata and Goa, and an associate unit in New Delhi.

Mr Jalan said the new Uni-ball pen, with a shelf life of two years, had a translucent plastic barrel filled with a colourless liquid like water, and on contact with paper, a Uni-flow system ensures consistent ink flow through its 0.6 mm tungsten carbide ball housed within a stainless steel tip. The product was now available at retail outlets in 7 colours, some of which are fluorescent.

The company, which has already clocked a turnover of Rs 40 crore in the first half of the current fiscal, is expecting to touch a figure of Rs 75 crore or so. Mr Jalan said the aim was to cross a turnover of Rs 100 crore by 2004-05. During 2002-03, it recorded a turnover of around Rs 63 crore.

According to Mr Ryo Soejima, a senior official from Mitsubishi, now touring India to visit Linc's factories, Linc was working well for the Japanese company, and the plan was to assemble, manufacture more of the Mitsubishi products in India. "We are keen to introduce more products in the huge Indian market," he added.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Linc Pen to manufacture Mitsubishi products

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line