Most of the 16 listed enterprises employed less than 20 workers. There are some known brands in the list-Wilson, President, Wality and Airmail, and Flair. In 1958, the labour ministry published a list of large industrial establishments in the country. Under the Factories Act, 1948, an enterprise is defined as large or organized, depending on usage of power and number of employees. It had a licence to manufacture Waterman, as other Indian manufacturers would do later. Krishnamachari) group venture, incorporated in Madras (now Chennai)-wasn’t a subsidiary. (India), Right Aids Orient (Pvt.) Ltd-a TTK (T.T. Ltd was set up as an Indian subsidiary in 1952. One could still argue that competition would enter through foreign investments. Initial smuggling through French territories or Goa, or subsequent smuggling through Nepal, doesn’t count as competition. Therefore, domestic fountain pens were protected from competition. (Today, basic customs duty on fountain pens is 10% and integrated goods and services tax is 18%).
Therefore, free imports of fountain pens had to wait till April 2001. Legislation meant to be temporary entered into the statute books permanently.įountain pens are consumer goods. When originally enacted in 1947, there was the qualification “for a limited period". This was also true of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act of 1947, which gave licensing powers. Some context is required here: in the early years after independence, much of legislation and policy was inherited from a period of war-time shortages and 1939 Defence of India Rules. That initial list of prohibited items had eight articles- canned fish wine toothpaste, tooth powder, talcum powder, shaving soap and shaving cream lithopone coal-tar dyes glass beads and false pearls safety razors and parts and fountain-pens and parts. India invoked the quantitative restrictions clause first in 1954. Stated simply, items were divided into open general licence (no licence was required), restricted (import licence required) and prohibited. Tariffs are relevant only if an item can be freely imported. Till April 2001, India justified quantitative restrictions on balance of payments grounds.
GATT principles prohibit quantitative restrictions on imports. In 1948, India was a founder member of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). This is the story of how India messed up a competitive advantage and what lessons it holds for the country’s economy even today. It dissipated because of policy-induced distortions- import duties, quantitative restrictions on imports, small-scale industry (SSI) reservations and the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). There were also many brands of fountain pen ink-Krishnaveni, Horse/Camel, Sulekha.Ĭlearly, there was an incipient Make-in-India story for fountain pens and ink. Fact is, at the stroke of the midnight hour, there were many Indian brands-Ratnam, Ratnamson, Guider, Deccan, Sultan, Gama, Penco, Wilson.
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