Camlin writes up distribution tie-up with Japan's Zebra

The Rs 400-crore Camlin is entering into a distribution tie-up with Japan's third largest writing instrument company, Zebra.

This is the third distribution arrangement the stationery company has entered into, after forging such arrangements with Winsor & Newton (writing instruments) and Kokaue (note books) in the past.

Mr Dilip Dandekar, Managing Director, Camlin, said, “We have steadily been bringing in writing instrument brands into the country. There is increased competition with big players like ITC also entering this segment.” With the stationery industry growing at 20 per cent, Camlin has assigned Rs 15 crore as capital expenditure for the year which includes investing in manufacturing facilities at places such as Taloja in Maharashtra and in tax zones such as Jammu.

With an export turnover of Rs 15 crore, Camlin is already supplying stationery to countries in the Saarc region, West Asia and Eastern Europe.

However it has decided against building new brands for the overseas market, having entered the US market under the brand of Camelia in the past. As Mr Dandekar adds, “We are no longer trying to build the Camelia brand, and today it is no longer being promoted in the overseas markets.”

In fact, brand building in the domestic market has also taken a backseat as the Camlin brand is already established after its 79 years of existence. “Although we have Lowe as our advertising agency, we believe in direct marketing especially through schools and already reach out to 4.5 million schools in the country. Camlin is already established as a brand, having been there for 79 years, and has been used as a stationery brand for the past few generations,” says Mr Dandekar. Camlin believes it can get better margins by bringing in more international brands, which would like to ride upon its strong distribution system. “We already reach out to more than 1 lakh retail outlets and up to 200 modern retail formats in the country. It is our distribution network which makes foreign brands tie up with us, and the latest one is Japan's Zebra. In fact, most of these international stationery companies would rather have a distribution arrangement and stay away from forging joint ventures in the Indian market.”

In the recent past, Kolkata-based Linc Pens forged a distribution arrangement with Japan's largest stationery company, Mitsubishi. Camlin is looking at a growth of almost 22 per cent this year.

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