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Up until recently, there was a typewriter factory still in existence in India. And, for the better part of this past decade, Indians were still buying the unwieldy device in droves. Even this February, the AFP ran an article explaining that the seemingly-ancient technology was "flourishing" in the nation. Sadly, that era has now ended.

Godrej and Boyce shut down its Mumbai, India plant because of declining orders. The company has only "a few hundred" typewriters in stock, most of which are Arabic language models. "Till 2009, we used to produce 10,000 to 12,000 machines a year," the factory's general manager told the India's Business Standard newspaper. "Now, our primary market is among the defence agencies, courts and government offices."

As to why Indian government offices still like using typewriters, it appears to all come down to simple habit. In February the AFP cited older users emotional attachment to the technology as well as simplicity and maintenance costs as an overriding factor. "If you’re doing work on a computer and I’m doing work on a typewriter, I will get it done first," one court writer bragged to the news outlet at the time.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.