Japanese stationery maker Shachihata is entering the Indian pen and colouring products market, taking on mid-segment brands such as Parker, Cross and Camlin.

The 89-year-old firm has been operational since 1998 with a factory in Chennai, but has not entered this segment as it had a distribution tie-up with German firm Faber-Castell. Shachihata, which invented the pre-inked stamp, will now set up its second and third factories in Goa and in the North at a cost of $5 million.

Last year, Faber-Castell had moved the Bombay High Court against the Indian subsidiary of Shachihata for violating copyrights and participating in competing businesses.

After the two companies parted ways earlier this year, Shachihata’s Indian subsidiary now plans to enter the domestic market on its own.

“We have been using our Chennai factory to export products. Now we will use it and the two new plants both for the Indian and export markets. We expect the Goa factory to be ready in the next six months,” Anup Rana, Managing Director, Shachihata India, told BusinessLine .

It will introduce its Artline range of office writing products in the mid-segment, with prices ranging from ₹5 to ₹200. The market for office writing products is estimated at ₹3,500 crore of the total stationery products market of about ₹12,000 crore.

The firm will also launch its colouring products for school kids — this segment is estimated at ₹500-600 crore and is currently dominated by Camlin and Hindustan Pencil. “We see a 10 per cent market growth in these segments in the next couple of years. We are aiming for a market share of 15 per cent and turnover of ₹200 crore in three years,” Rana said.

It plans to set up a 200-strong distributor network by the end of its first year of Indian operations.

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