Updated on: 19 June,2022 08:52 AM IST  |  Mumbai Nidhi Lodaya | nidhi.lodaya@mid-day.com

While move to add Marathi signboards may seem easy on paper, shop owners, tradesmen and union presidents tell why they can’t get on board quickly

Depending on the size, the illuminated signboards cost anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 5 lakh. The smallest signboard takes at least a day to make. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

On June 16, presidents of the major traders union associations in the city met with Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC) Ashish Sharma to discuss an extension in the deadline to change of shop and establishments signboards in the city. As per the latest amendment in the Maharashtra Shops and Establishment (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 2022, a Marathi signboard in Devanagari script is compulsory for all shops and restaurants. This latest amendment also states that the Marathi signage should not be smaller than those in the other languages.

The deadline for the law approved by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in March has been extended repeatedly. As of now, the deadline stands at June 30. At Thursday’s meeting, the associations requested another six months to make the shift. “The AMC heard everyone and informed them that a six-month extension is not possible,” says Viren Shah, President, Federation of Retail traders Welfare Association (FRTWA). “The BMC will review how many boards have not been changed, ward wise, and take a call at the end of the month.” Representatives of over 15 associations were part of the discussion and were in favour of the extension. 

The downside of flex banners is that they start to tear quickly and can only be fitted on an existing wooden frame. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

“We will abide by it since it is a law,” says Mitesh Mody, president of the All India Electronics Association (AIEA). “But it is difficult to do so in such a short span of time.”  According to Shah, the biggest problem is the onset of the monsoons. 

The letter submitted by the AIEA read: “The small and medium shop owners are yet to come out of huge losses [incurred] due to Corona and two lockdowns which they fought without any direct help from governments or corporations. Changing name boards at such a short notice is very difficult.” 

Flex, vinyl and sun boards are cost-effective and time-saving alternatives, which a lot of shops are currently opting for. Pic/Ashish Raje

A jeweller in Ghatkopar East, like many others, is waiting for an update before changing his illuminated signboard. Currently, the shop’s name is announced in Marathi, as per the 2017 guidelines, but it is not as prominent as the English version, as is required now. Uday Bhatia, founder of Brilliant Neon, which makes illuminated LED signboards at a workshop in Charni Road agrees. He says that it is the shop owners who are inconvenienced by these changes in specifications.

When it comes to shops selling electronic goods, says Mody, “people enter when they see brand names and logos such as HP, Dell, Apple, Samsung, etc in the display window. The name of the shop does not matter.” The rule specifies that only the name of the shop has to be in Marathi. “There is no rule that says we have to change the logos of brand we stock to Devanagari,” adds Mody, “and neither can we do that since that is not our propriety.”

Stores trading goods from multinational companies see a loop hole here that can be exploited. “We fear corruption will increase,” he says, “because the inspector will question why the logos are still in English.”

Among signboards, the flex banner is the cheapest and quickest to install, followed by vinyl, sun board, acrylic letter boards and illuminated display boards. Despite the deadline drawing close, those selling signboards say their sales have not spiked markedly. Bhatia, who used to work on about 25 to 30 signboards in a month, says his orders have risen to only 40 signboards after the latest guidelines. 

Uday Bhatia, Ruchyeta Bhatia, Mitesh Mody and Viren Shah

Keyur and Ankit Gada, founders of Print Plaza, a design and printing shop confirm that work has increased only by two to five per cent. “People are still waiting [for an extension or other specifications]. As the deadline draws closer, more [shop-owners] will rush to change,” says Ankit. 

Firoz Khan and Yogesh Bhoir, partners at Goregaon-based lettering signage shop SignTrix, received many enquiries, but this has not translated into more business. On an average, they still make 20 to 25 signages per month. “Brands are expecting a new deadline, and are in no rush,” says Bhoir. “The Marathi rule has not affected us in any way,” adds Khan. Another reason for business staying the same, according to him, is that “people are making do with temporary solutions such as flex banners or vinyl stickers.”

According to latest guidelines, the Marathi font should be of equal size, if not bigger, than the other languages on the board. Pic/Ashish Raje

Those working at the Print Plaza, in Fort, admit shop owners have been asking for flex and vinyl banners to be installed within a day, at extra cost. Vinyl takes about two to three hours to print, and the same time to stick.

Depending on the sign, a small, illuminated LED board takes at least a day to be made. “Since these take time, we recommend putting a [flex] banner in Marathi for the time being. We can’t make many signs together at such short notice,” says Bhatia, the owner of an 80-year-old factory in Charni Road.

Finding the space to aesthetically fit the Marathi spelling was the biggest challenge for Love & Cheesecake

Gada says they have received a total of 25-30 orders since the end of May for flex banners, vinyl and sun boards. In making Marathi signboards, the biggest hitch is design specific problems like spacing between the letters. The Marathi rendition of a logo is often shorter than the English one, creating font and design trouble. Devanagari also has limited types of fonts, which makes it hard to sync with the original font.

The monsoons add to the problems: Bhatia says installation becomes difficult when it rains and work is put on hold. An illuminated sign board takes a day to be installed, large ones, like terrace boards, take three to four days. Even vinyl boards, which are more in demand, due to durability, cost and ease of production cannot be put up during rains, says Gada. “Vinyl needs to be stuck on a dry surface,” he says, “It becomes difficult when it rains as even if it is stuck, it will later develop bubbles.” 

For Ruchyeta Bhatia, Co-Founder of Brewworks Pvt. Ltd. that owns cafe and dessert chain Love & Cheesecake and Poetry, redesigning the name wasn’t a huge challenge as they have in-house designers. “Our bigger problem,” she says, “was finding the space for it because our stores are designed in a certain way and then adding another logo of the same size was a little difficult. But we didn’t want to flout rules.”

The brand uses a specific typography which they weren’t able to replicate in their Marathi sign, and had to look for alternatives. “If our original ones were backlit [in some outlets], the Marathi ones had to be backlit too,” she says. They have 20 stores across Mumbai and she hopes by this weekend, all of them will boast of a Marathi signboard.