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More local printing houses joined the modernisation bandwagon the following year, inspired with the way taking risks helped others achieve success.

“Our capacity jumped suddenly. The government’s decision gave us the courage to take risks and invest and we triumphed.”

The sector now has the capacity to print 100 crore books annually.

Hasina Newaaz, managing director of Orchid Printers, a major player and one of the oldest surviving firms in the sector, acknowledged the vital role the government move to distribute books for free had on the industry’s growth.

At the beginning of the year, local printing houses delivered more than 35 crore textbooks for the government for distribution.

“This in itself is a form of progress as in the past, students had to wait until the first quarter of an academic session to get their books,” Serneabat added.

Over the past decade, various modern technologies for printing, binding and cutting have been brought to printing presses, some of whom now use eight-colour machines and computerised plate technology to speed up the production process and quality.

Binding, which was once done manually, is now accomplished automatically in many presses.

“We have also adopted modern cutting machines. All these innovations have decreased the time it takes to print, bind and cut,” Moshin said.

In the past, one binder could prepare a maximum of 500 books daily. Now, 3,000-4,000 books can be printed per day using modern binding machines.

Apart from making books, calendars and other conventional tasks, there have been strides made in the printing of packaging materials used for consumer goods such as locally made medicine and clothing.

“Once we had to depend on foreign firms to print accessories for export oriented garments. We do not have to do that anymore as the required machinery to print labels, price tags and such are available here,” Serneabat said.

Serneabat has invested about Tk 30 crore to increase the capacity of his firm, Sanjana Printers, over the past ten years.

With the introduction of modern printing, binding and packing materials, his business has expanded from 1,000 square feet to 110,000 square feet. Entrepreneurs have collectively invested Tk 1,500 crore in the sector since 2010.

The printing sector is now self-sufficient and export-oriented as well as printed products account for 6 per cent of the country’s total export earnings.

Including export, the total annual market size for printing is Tk 3,000 crore and local printers cater to almost all the demand, according to Serneabat.

“There has been a radical change in our production capacity, especially because of automation. With our existing capacity, we can print for export even after meeting demands from the local market,” said Rabbani Jabbar, managing director of Ananda Printers, which also has the capacity to print four crore books a year.

The government should provide a scope to import paper, ink and other raw materials duty-free against export orders, Jabbar added.

Serneabat also made an appeal to the government, asking for an allotment of 200 acres of land near Dhaka for a printing industry enclave to help the sector flourish.

Financing from banks will also provide an impetus to import new and printing machinery, which would help the industry cater to the international market demand for printed materials, he added.