The Indian Newspaper Society appealed to the Centre on Saturday to withdraw the 10 per cent customs duty imposed on newsprint, the uncoated paper used for printing newspapers and the lightweight coated papers used for magazines.

The total consumption of standard newsprint in India is 2.5 million tonnes, while the indigenous mills have a capacity only of 1 million tonnes, an INS release said.

“It appears that the Indian newsprint manufacturers have misrepresented to the government that they are in a position to meet the entire requirements,” it said.

“Last year, there was a severe shortage of newsprint worldwide but the Indian industry was able to export only 12,726 tonnes of newsprint which shows that there was no idle capacity available in India and the newsprint capacity showcased by the local manufacturers to the government is fallacious.

“In addition, the quality of indigenous newsprint is considerably inferior to imported (newsprint), which restricts its use on modern printing presses. The tearing of paper reels of domestic newsprint on presses is more than 3 times compared to imported (newsprint). This leads to excessive wastage and loss of productivity.

“The reliability of supplies from domestic newsprint mills is uncertain as many of these mills are facing showcause notices from the Central Pollution Board, which poses a serious risk to the business continuity of supplies from these mills. In case of uncoated (glazed) and lightweight coated, there is no domestic capacity at all.

“Publishers of newspapers and magazines are already reeling under severe financial pressure due to many factors like lower advertisement revenues, higher costs and digital onslaught from technological giants. Small and medium newspapers will go into deeper losses and many may be forced to shut down due to this imposition.

“Hence, the INS calls for urgent intervention by the government to save the Indian newspaper industry by scrapping this unbearable burden imposed on it.”