Chelpark Company History

[Mesu]

I found the following history of Chelpark company in a website. Hope you will find it interesting

*made small formatting changes to make it easier to read

 

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CHELPARK COMPANY PVT LTD.

 

The Parker Pen Company, manufacturers of ink, was in partnership with a company in south India by the name of TTK. But Parker wanted to find a new partner in India, as they did not wish to continue their association with TTK.

 

That's when Mr. Byford the main advisor to the Parker family approached the Chellaram family to become their partners for India. Mr. Byford and the Chellaram family had an old association, as the Chellaram family were large buyers of Parker products for trade in the west African region.

 

The Chellaram family discussed with Mr. Byford that they were willing to buy the majority of shares of the Parker operation in India but on a condition. The condition being that the Chellaram family would not be involved in the day to day running and administration of the company. And only Parker would run the entire operations. Parker agreed to this condition laid down by the Chellaram family and they both officially joined hands for the India operations.

 

 

After giving it some thought it was decided that "Quink" had to be given an Indian identity for it to appeal to the Indian consumer. This is when the brand name Chelpark came into being signifying the Chellaram and Parker. This change in name was backed by an advertising campaign in which showed the peeling off of the Parker sticker and a new sticker that read "Chelpark" on it appearing. This ad campaign was an instant hit and that was the birth of this famous company called Chelpark.

 

The first official name of the company after the Chellaram family bought the majority shares was Chelpark Company Limited. Which was changed in 1985 to Chelpark Company Private Limited. And the head office was shifted from Madras (now known as Chennai), Tamilnadu to Bangalore, Karnataka.

 

This long standing partnership of the two business families came to an end around 1968/69 due to the changes in the Indian finance ministry policies. It was not profitable for Parker to continue its operations in India and therefore decided to sell off their entire shareholdings. This is when Chelpark which was initially only known for its fountain pen ink started diversifying into other office stationary products and today it has become a household name in India with its wide product range.

[mohan]

Thanks mesu for this,

Can I assume quink and chelpark inks are the same?

[hari317]

Can I assume quink and chelpark inks are the same?

Of course you can, but it will not be an accurate assumption to make.

 

and here is the link to the original article:

 

http://stationery.indiabizclub.com/profile/2242352~chelpark+company+pvt+ltd.~mumbai_india

[Mesu]

Can I assume quink and chelpark inks are the same?

 

There seems to be a slight variation in the shades of Chelpark Sapphire blue, Chelpark Royal blue and Parker Quink blue.

 

Quink blue seems to be closer to Sapphire blue which seems to be discontinued.

 

Attached is a scan of the writing samples.

 

[Seele]

Mesu,

 

Thanks for the information, interesting indeed.

 

On my monitors the differences between the three blues appear very small; I wonder if you can do a chromatographic analysis, that would be quite telling too.

 

I also understand there are Parker pens available by mail order now, both fountain pens and ball pens, and made in India; I do not know about their back story. It does seem like Chelpark is primarily an ink maker, and it's common knowledge that the Maverick was outsourced, perhaps the others are as well?

[sanyalsoumitra]

Chelpark was making premium inks, we used in our student life. I particularly remember one purple ink and a torqouise Blue ink, which other ink companys like Sulekha and Camlin were not making.

 

Chelpark used to make pens also, I remember one fine pen called Moti. Do not see this brand anymore.

[mohan]

Sanyal,

Chelpark no longer manufactures inks. What available are NOS. Collect them before they run out of stock.

[Jerome Tarshis]

If Chelpark is not making inks, what is it making and selling? I have just done a Google search in hope of finding the company's Web site, but after no such Web site came up in the first three or four pages of search hits, I began to wonder what is the status of the company. Although I am not Indian myself, I have met one or two if not three or four Indians who remembered using Chelpark ink during their student days. To judge from postings to FPN, it is not an unknown ink in India. So what is the story?

[Mesu]

Chelpark was making premium inks, we used in our student life. I particularly remember one purple ink and a torqouise Blue ink, which other ink companys like Sulekha and Camlin were not making.

 

Chelpark used to make pens also, I remember one fine pen called Moti. Do not see this brand anymore.

 

Chelpark stopped making fountain pens or inks. When i called their office, they mentioned that they don't have any immediate plans to resume production. I could get NOS Chelpark Sona and Moti pens. Will be posting a review soon.

 

Here's a review of Chelpark Crimson violet:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/253943-chelpark-crimson-violet-short-review/

 

 

Sanyal,

Chelpark no longer manufactures inks. What available are NOS. Collect them before they run out of stock.

 

Thanks for your suggestions and pepsi bottle idea Mohan. Will be stocking up soon

 

 

If Chelpark is not making inks, what is it making and selling? I have just done a Google search in hope of finding the company's Web site, but after no such Web site came up in the first three or four pages of search hits, I began to wonder what is the status of the company. Although I am not Indian myself, I have met one or two if not three or four Indians who remembered using Chelpark ink during their student days. To judge from postings to FPN, it is not an unknown ink in India. So what is the story?

 

"They have stopped making fountain pens and inks as it was no longer profitable. They are planning to diversify into other areas."

 

This is the information i got from the customer care executive.

[mohan]

No wonder.At 12 or 15 rs per bottle retail price, what profit they get per bottle?

[hari317]

 

"They have stopped making fountain pens and inks as it was no longer profitable. They are planning to diversify into other areas."

How accurate is this information? very unfortunate if it is indeed true.

[Mesu]

How accurate is this information? very unfortunate if it is indeed true.

 

As accurate as the knowledge of a customer care executive's

 

Purchased many Chelpark ink bottles this year but yet to come across any with the manufacturing year of 2013. If we can find a bottle with the current year of manufacture, then we can be assured that the ink production is still on.

[hari317]

 

As accurate as the knowledge of a customer care executive's

 

Purchased many Chelpark ink bottles this year but yet to come across any with the manufacturing year of 2013. If we can find a bottle with the current year of manufacture, then we can be assured that the ink production is still on.

Given the famous knowledge of CC executives, I still hold out hope.

[Jerome Tarshis]

Is it actually necessary to telephone Chelpark and depend upon the information given by the person who picks up the telephone? Surely the mother country of the Indian Institute of Technology has some IT capabilities.

 

Should I wish to find out about the current situation of let us say Camel ink or Camlin pens, I can travel by the magic of IT to www.kokuyacamlin.com. Ditto for Bril ink, admittedly not distributed very much outside of South India: www.brilindia.com will take me to virtual Bangalore. Tiny pen manufacturers are selling online. Chelpark is a rather popular manufacturer, it would seem. May we not consult its Web site?

 

I wish Indian FPNers the best of luck, but must we look at the date labels on ink bottles to find out what's happening with a pretty major ink supplier? The country has newspapers, and even a business press.

[Mesu]

Is it actually necessary to telephone Chelpark and depend upon the information given by the person who picks up the telephone? Surely the mother country of the Indian Institute of Technology has some IT capabilities.

 

If the information is not available online, this is the best we can do. Call up the company's front desk. Please share if you have any other suggestions.

 

Should I wish to find out about the current situation of let us say Camel ink or Camlin pens, I can travel by the magic of IT to www.kokuyacamlin.com. Ditto for Bril ink, admittedly not distributed very much outside of South India: www.brilindia.com will take me to virtual Bangalore. Tiny pen manufacturers are selling online. Chelpark is a rather popular manufacturer, it would seem. May we not consult its Web site?

 

Any reason why it is assumed that we did not consult the website? pgstationeryindia.com was the website of Chelpark, which is currently down. The onus of maintaining the customer relations and a website is on the company. If they do not, then it gives the customer an idea of what's happening with the company.

 

I wish Indian FPNers the best of luck, but must we look at the date labels on ink bottles to find out what's happening with a pretty major ink supplier? The country has newspapers, and even a business press.

 

Again, the press releases and news/updates about the company should be supplied to the media by Chelpark. We cannot share what we cannot find. So we make the best use of the information available. Distributors, customer care executives etc.

[Aramchek]

I also understand there are Parker pens available by mail order now, both fountain pens and ball pens, and made in India; I do not know about their back story. It does seem like Chelpark is primarily an ink maker, and it's common knowledge that the Maverick was outsourced, perhaps the others are as well?

 

Parker pens made in India (as far as I know, all of them) are made by Luxor.

 

I'm currently using Chelpark green in one pen. I like the colour, but not too keen on it otherwise - in most non-Indian pens the flow is terrible, and if it does write, it bleeds through and feathers quite a lot. The bottles cap is also a nuisance. Still, it's cheap...

[Mesu]

 

On my monitors the differences between the three blues appear very small; I wonder if you can do a chromatographic analysis, that would be quite telling too.

 

Please click on the image for higher res. The differences between the shades are more evident.

 

Not sure how to do a chromatographic analysis

[Jerome Tarshis]

I am very sorry if my posts above seemed to reproach Indian FPNers for laziness or incompetence. I agree that one cannot share information one cannot find. But I myself have done no better, so I have no reason to disparage other people's efforts.

 

My reproach, or at least my expression of sadness and disappointment, is rather directed at Chelpark. The company is operating in Bangalore in the year 2013. It is selling something. (From my further researches, presumably adhesives and non-FP inks.) Why no Web site?

 

I do have some confidence in that voice on the telephone, though. In a company of fewer than 50 employees even the lowliest peon would know whether they've stopped making FP inks and pens. I think.

 

Again, I am sorry to have seemed to reproach anyone here for Chelpark's omissions. It is still a family company, unless I am mistaken, and may not feel obliged to tell us about itself.

[Seele]

 

Please click on the image for higher res. The differences between the shades are more evident.

 

Not sure how to do a chromatographic analysis

 

This thread talks about ink chromatography, I just use blotting paper, cut into 1cm-wide strips, for the purpose, Melitta coffee filter paper should also work, I reckon.

[deepak23]

 

As accurate as the knowledge of a customer care executive's

 

Purchased many Chelpark ink bottles this year but yet to come across any with the manufacturing year of 2013. If we can find a bottle with the current year of manufacture, then we can be assured that the ink production is still on.

Did recently buy a few bottles of Chelpark. While reading this did a quick check on the dates. All are 2012 or earlier. So I guess its true. Pretty unfortunate though. I have been using Chelpark inks continuously since 1984/5 and its going to be hard to start using another ink .

Can anyone suggest inks that are similar in consistency and the deep blue of their royal blue?

 

Deepak