Calcutta Business School

Diamond Harbour Road, 24 Parganas South Kolkata,West Bengal 743503

Report On Pen & Pencil

Submitted By Group-4:-

Abhishek Verma
Bishal Roy
Nikita
Ranjan
Pr
arthana Bihari
 Introduction
Pens :-

The market for writing pens is estimated at 1600 to 2400 million

pieces a year. By value, the total market for writing instruments is
estimated at Rs 22 billion and is growing at around 8 to 9%
annually. The informal sector's contribution to the market is placed
at over Rs 6.6 billion or 30% of the total market by value and 65%
by quantum. While by numbers the low-end market accounts for
90%, the premium and top-end segment accounts for less than a
percent. The balance is accounted for by the moderately priced mid-
priced products.

The global market in writing instruments is estimated at about USD

38 billion, of which global pen market accounts for nearly USD 30
bn. The Indian market size is relatively small. In terms of quality of
pens, India ranks amongst the best in the world, well ahead of even
China. However, India's export market is abysmally low at Rs 2
billion, while China exports Rs 50 billion worth of pens every year.
Corporate gift segment in India is valued over a billion, growing at
15%.
The Indian market consists of around 15 large scale, 100 midsize
and 900 small scale manufacturing units. These units have a
combined production capacity of over 10 million pieces a day.
Raw Materials Of Pens :-

There are basically five parts to a Bic Pen. The cap, barrel, and
ink tube are made of plastic, while the ballpoint and tip are
made of metals.
About 80% of the revenues of the pen industry in India comes from
pens with a price range of upto Rs 15. A small percentage of pens is
priced in the range of Rs 100 to Rs 300 and miniscule of the market
is contributed by the super-premium segment in which the price tag
goes to as high as Rs 100,000 or more. While the market for lower
price range (up to Rs 15) is growing at a rate of 7 to 8% annually,
the market for pens above that range is growing at 8 to 10%. The
rate of growth of high priced writing instruments is much higher -
basically because of a small base. There is, nevertheless, in the
recent period, a price upgradation in evidence at the low-end. As
the market is developing in the new ambience, the products are
getting upgraded.
The market is segmented broadly into products required by (a)
young students (many of whom depend only on pencils and ball
point pens), (b) frequent users (in offices, commercial and public
establishments), (c) occasional users (like housewives and literate
manual workers). While India's literacy rate is low, all literates do
not use ball or fountain pens, if at all, only occasionally. Obviously,
the per person usage is limited mainly to (a) and (b) segments. The
usage norms differ from function to function; even as it does from
one person to another and certainly from one segment to another.

The students account for 55 to 60% of the off-take followed by

executives at 20-25% and other multilevel users accounting for 15
to 20% of the market.

The existing scenario gives an indication that the market in being

dominated by the ball point pens, which accounts for 70% of the
total demand for pens in India, followed by gel pens (20%),
fountain pens (4%). The rest accounts for only 6% of the market. A
majority of users, 85%, use blue ink, while black, red and other
colour inks are used by about 15%.

The major players in India include Lux or Writing Instruments,

Cello, Reynolds, Linc Pens & Plastics, Add Pens, Goldmate,
Today's Writing Products, Rotomac Pens, Stic Pens, GM Pens
International, Flair Pen.

Pencil :-
One of the oldest and most widely used writing utensils, the pencil
originated in pre-historic times when chalky rocks and charred sticks
were used to draw on surfaces as varied as animal hides and cave walls.
The Greeks and Romans used flat pieces of lead to draw faint lines on
papyrus, but it was not until the late 1400s that the earliest direct
ancestor of today's pencil was developed. About one hundred years
later graphite, a common mineral occurring as soft, lustrous veins in
rocks, was discovered near Borrow dale in north western England. The
Borrow dale mine supplied Europe with graphite for several hundred
years; however, because people could not then differentiate between
graphite and lead, they referred to the former as "black lead." Cut into
rods or strips, graphite was heavily wrapped in twine to provide
strength and a comfortable handle. The finished product, called a lead
pencil, was quite popular. In the late sixteenth century, a method for
gluing strips of wood around graphite was discovered in Germany, and
the modern pencil began to take form. In 1779, scientists determined
that the material they had previously thought was lead was actually a
form of microcrystalline carbon that they named graphite (from the
Greek "graphein" meaning "to write"). Graphite is one of the three
natural forms of pure carbon—the others are coal and diamond.
In the late eighteenth century the Borrowdale mine was depleted, and,
as graphite was now less plentiful, other materials had to be mixed with
it to create pencils. A Frenchman chemist, Nicolas Jacques Conte,
discovered that when powdered graphite, powdered clay, and water
were mixed, molded, and baked, the finished product wrote as
smoothly as pure graphite. Conte also discovered that a harder or softer
writing core could be produced by varying the proportion of clay and
graphite—the more graphite, the blacker and softer the pencil. In 1839,
Lothar von Faber of Germany developed a method of making graphite
paste into rods of the same thickness. He later invented a machine to
cut and groove the pencil wood. Following the depletion of the once-
abundant graphite source at Borrowdale, other graphite mines were
gradually established around the world.
A number of these mines were set up in the United States, and the first
American pencils were manufactured in 1812, after the War of
1812ended English imports. William Monroe, a cabinet maker in
Concord, Massachusetts, invented a machine that cut and grooved
wood slats precisely enough to make pencils. Around that time,
American inventor Joseph Dixon developed a method of cutting single
cedar cylinders in half, placing the graphite core in one of the halves,
and then gluing the two halves back together. In 1861, Eberhard Faber
built the United States' first pencil-making factory in New York City.

Raw Materials Of Pencils :-

The most important ingredient in a pencil is the graphite, which
most people continue to call lead. Conté's method of combining
graphite with clay is still used, and wax or other chemicals are
sometimes added as well. Virtually all graphite used today is a
manufactured mixture of natural graphite and chemicals.
The wood used to manufacture pencils must be able to
withstand repeated sharpening and cut easily without
splintering. Most pencils are made from cedar (specifically,
California cedar), the choice wood for many years. Cedar has a
pleasant odor, does not warp or lose its shape, and is readily
available. Some pencils have erasers, which are held on with a
ferrule, a metal case that is either glued or held on with metal
prongs. The erasers themselves consist of pumice and rubber.
In addition to the conventional wood pencil, a number of other pencils
are widely used. In the early 1880s, the search for a pencil that didn't
require sharpening led to the invention of what has variously been
termed the automatic, propelling, or repeating pencil. These
instruments have a metal or plastic case and use leads similar to those
found in wood cased pencils. The lead, lodged in a metal spiral inside
the case, is held in place by a rod with a metal stud fastened to it. When
the cap is twisted, the rod and stud move downward in the spiral,
forcing the lead toward the point. The early twentieth century saw the
development of colored pencils in which the graphite core was replaced
by a combination of pigments or dyes and a binder. Today, colored
pencils are available in more than 70 colors, with 7 different yellows
and 12 different blues. However, the cedar-casing lead pencil—
manufactured at a pace of 6 billion per year in 40 different countries—
continues to outsell all of its competitors, including the ballpoint pen.
 Project Rational

 Rationale is generally described as the justification for

undertaking an activity.

 In simple words project rationale is a statement of facts explaining

the background of a project.

 After analysing the market condition of Linc, we got a rough

estimation about what section and which age group of people
normally prefer using the products of this company.

 Maximum of the students preferred using these pens rather then

middle aged or above. And they also preferred ball point pens the
most as they are easy to be used especially on a regular basis.

 After analysing about Apsara pencil, we came to know that

previously Natraj had a big lead over Apsara, but after bringing
innovation in attractiveness along with the quality of the shaft
part, it’s customer preference has been rapidly increasing.

 Normally children who fall among the age group of 5 to 14 are the
prominent customers of this product. It has now taken a big lead
over Natraj and other companies and has emerged as the
prominent leader of the Pencil industry.
 Methodology
RESEARCH
Research is a process in which the researcher wishes to find out the end
result for a given problem and thus the solution helps in future course
of action. The research has been defined as “A careful investigation or
enquiry especially through search for new fact in any branch of
knowledge”.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The procedure using, which researchers go about their work of
describing, explaining and predicting phenomena, is called
Methodology. Methods compromise the procedures used for
generating, collecting, and evaluating data. Methods are the ways of
obtaining information useful for assessing explanation.
Method of Data Collection
The data has been collected in two ways.

Primary Data:- Primary data are those, which are collected for the
first time, and they are original in character. A suitable combination of
Questionnaire techniques, & discussion with the respondents was used
to collect the required primary data.
Primary data gives higher accuracy and facts, which is very helpful for
any research and its findings. The researcher has collected primary data
from questionnaire (i.e.) personal interview.
Secondary Data: - The secondary data are those, which are already
collected by someone for some purpose and are available for the
present study. Secondary data was collected from the magazines,
websites, and other such sources.
STATISTICAL TOOLS USED
PERCENTAGE METHOD
• In this project percentage method test and used. The following are
the formula
Percentage of Respondent = No. of Respondent x 100
Total no. of Respondent
 DATA ANALYSIS
Pen

35-50 ; 5.00% Above 50; 3.00%

25-35 ; 9.00%

15-20 ; 52.00%

20-25 ; 31.00%

Others; 4.00%
Regular Employee; 8.00%
Business Person; 12.00%

Student ; 76.00%
 Italia; 2.00% Others; 3.00%
Linc; 3.00% Classmate; 9.00%
Lexi; 25.00% Reynolds; 12.00%

Cello; 46.00%

Internet; 15.00%

Newspapers &
Magazines; 19.00%
TV Advertisements;
Banners & hoarding; 61.00%
5.00%
Pencil

Age Group

15
5

45
Below 10
11to20
21to30
Above 30

35

Occupation

5
5
15

Student
Employee
Business Person
Others

75
 Most Preferred Brand

10
35

25
Apsara
Natraj
Camlin
Faber Castell

30

Advertisement Media

15

TV Advertisement

20 Banners & Hoarding

Newspaper&Magazines
60
Internet

5
FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS
Findings :-
• Amongst different types of Pen, Cello pen has captured the
market in such a way that it is currently the leading pen
manufacturing company globally.
• Cello brand is currently the second market leader and it is
also preferred by the majority of the consumers for writing
among the different brands of Pen available in the market.
• Among the various price of pens available in the market,
between Rs 5-10 price level is the most popular level.
• Smooth writing is the most influencing pen characteristic in
the consumer buying process of pen
• TV advertisement is the most influencing media for
customers to buy pen.
• Friends are most influencing category of people in
consumer buying decision of pen.
• Most of the customers buy more than 50 pen in a year on an
average basis
• Apsara pencil has emerged in a quick time as the leading
pencil making company due to its innovative smoothness as
well as style.
• It has beaten the likings of big pencil giants like Natraj and
Camelion .
Suggestions :-
 Cello Company is regarded as No 1 market leader due to its
product verities mainly in the Price range ranging from Rs
5 – 20 .In this Low Price Segment where majority of
consumers prefer to buy their pen. At the same price range
Classmate have very less products which can satisfy
consumer need. So hereby I suggest that Classmate should
Come up with more products in Effective Price range Of Rs
5 – 20, targeted to different consumer segments.

 The practice of “Use and Throw” is more visible in

consumers, so Cello pen should bring some models in
below 5 Rs price level.

 Company should strongly take care of availability of pens

at rural retail outlets.

 From the survey it is clear that different variable/features

influence buying decision of consumer in different
segments. Thus Company should not have a common
Positioning for all Target Markets. The companies should
try to focus on a target group by focusing on various
characteristics that affect their buying decision

 Apsara has already been the leader of the Pencil industry.

Still, some changes regarding innovations can be made. For
 example it can increase its smoothness and lower its price
little bit.
VALIDATION THROUGH RELEVANT
ADVERTISMENT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KVVi7i0snkI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WwguhNe0Za8
CONCLUSION WITH RESPECT TO CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR
• The project entitled “A Study of the Consumer Behaviour
of Cello Pen & Apsara Pencil” has helped in studying the
various aspects of consumer behaviour towards pens &
pencil
• The study also helped in understanding and analyzing
customer satisfaction about services and products offered to
customers. Every player in the pen industry is trying to
cover more market share than the other. So the company
must be more alert providing high quality service and
awareness to customers.
• The researcher hope the company will find his findings
relevant and sincerely hope it uses his suggestions enlisted,
which he hopes will take them miles ahead of competition.
In short, the researcher would like to say that the very act of
the concerned management at ITC Ltd in giving him the job
of critically examining consumer buying behaviour towards
pen of the company.
REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVi7i0snkI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwguhNe0Za8