The second edition of Bharat Print Expo opened at the Chennai Trade Centre on 27 April 2026 with a message that south India's print industry is ready to be taken seriously. Organised by the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) in association with ReEnvision Events, the three-day show drew 180-plus exhibitors and 12,000-plus trade visitors.
The inauguration was led by AIFMP coordinator (west) Tushar Dhote alongside president Ravindra Reddy and general secretary Mehul Desai, with representatives from the Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka printer associations. Reddy set the tone saying that the industry has moved beyond being a service provider to becoming an integral part of business supply chains, driven by digital technology, automation and sustainability.
Over three days, PrintWeek spoke to exhibitors across the floor. There were four consistent themes: the rise of digital printing, the strategic importance of South India, a push towards automation and value-added applications, and the challenge of making sustainability meaningful.
South market: The rising tide
The decision to host Bharat Print Expo in Chennai was itself a signal. The response from strong footfall to live bookings and quality conversations, confirmed the south was ready to be taken seriously.
The numbers tell part of the story. Indas Analytics has over 50 installations across Chennai, Sivakasi, Kochi and Hyderabad. Insight Print Communications reports around 40 Revoria machines in South India. APL Machinery counts more than 100 screen printing installations in Chennai alone. Everest Holovisions has expanded its focus to cover all five key southern states. But it is the quality of engagement that sets the region apart. As Parmeshwar Patidar of Indas Analytics observed,"Customers in the south are more aware and disciplined. If they see value, they implement quickly."
Sivakasi, historically known for fireworks, now a major hub for label printing and packaging, remains a gravitational centre. Several exhibitors named it as a key cluster for understanding the sophistication of southern demand.
APL Machinery has installations across Coimbatore, Salem and Puducherry alongside its strong Chennai base. DGM has deployed a dedicated south sales and service person post-Covid. "This is a corrugated-heavy market, so flute laminators are seeing growing traction here," said managing director Puneet Aggarwal. NBG Printographic has landed a significant new order from Mainetti, the global retail solutions provider. Mainetti has opted for a fully automatic paper bag making machine at its Chennai facility.
Impress Graphic, headquartered in Chennai, secured three V-grooving bookings at the expo. Creofoil has five to six southern installations already and expects to convert multiple expo enquiries within six months.
What makes the market compelling is the combination of strong fundamentals when it comes to label printing, corrugation, commercial print, with a clear appetite for upgrading. Heidelberg India's BS Chandrashekar framed it well when he said, "The southern market continues to show strong appetite for automation and high-performance systems."
Innovation on the showfloor
Fujifilm India anchored its showcase around click-to-print — managing the imaging lifecycle from capture to final output. The Aqueous Pro was the centrepiece, with Taisuke Miyazaki, senior manager at the Instax and Photo Imaging Division, highlighting colour consistency as the brand's core edge. He also noted the influx of Chinese machinery as a sign of a healthy but increasingly competitive market.
Heidelberg India demonstrated its Prinect workflow ecosystem live, with head of marketing Rajendra Prasad noting strong tier-II engagement on day one. Cluster sales head south BS Chandrashekar added that Saphira consumables offers were well received by printers looking to optimise performance before adding new equipment.
APL Machinery booked five machines in the first two days, targeting 15 in total. Beyond screen printing, the company has developed a rotogravure machine running at 150 metres per minute, a domestic first. Managing director CP Paul signalled the next frontier, "We are now entering robotics for screen printing, offset and die-cutting machines."
If automation addresses efficiency, embellishment addresses margins. Multiple exhibitors made the case that standard four-colour print no longer offers enough returns.
Monotech Systems paired Ricoh's Pro C7500 digital press with its PixelGlow embellishment portfolio. The Radiant Pro Plus — fully automated, with inline foiling, AI-based scanner and variable micron thickness for differentiated effects on the same sheet — drew strong interest. Creofoil presented a three-in-one configuration enabling spot UV, foiling and cast and cure on the same line. 'The idea is to give packaging customers flexibility to create differentiated effects without investing in multiple standalone systems,' said Keyur Vashi, joint director.
Insight Print Communications showcased Fujifilm's Revoria Press SC285, with specialty colours beyond CMYK enabling metallic effects and premium print. An application gallery covering rigid boxes, embellishment labels and wedding invitations illustrated the opportunity for printers moving beyond commodity jobs.
Everest Holovisions presented LithoFire to the southern market for the first time, a hologram technology combining more than 65 overt and covert security features in a single label. Because colour is achieved through light physics rather than pigment, the security features are structurally embedded and near-impossible to replicate. Target sectors include pharmaceuticals, FMCG and government documentation.
The rise of digital printing
Digital printing was the thread running through Bharat Print Expo with the greatest force. It is no longer a niche proposition. It is becoming the architecture of modern print.
Konica Minolta, the expo's Digital Printing Partner, showcased the AccurioPress C12010S — five-colour capable, with advanced media versatility — alongside the AccurioPrint C4065 and the 100-ppm monochrome AccurioPrint 2100. Managing director Katsuhisa Asari articulated the direction: "India's print industry is evolving rapidly, with businesses increasingly looking for solutions that combine speed, flexibility, and long-term sustainability."
The shift is being driven by shorter runs, faster turnarounds and the margin pressure that comes with commodity four-colour work. APL Machinery's CP Paul captured the transition well, "In another year, you will see APL becoming more digital-focused." The company has entered a partnership with HP for the North Indian market, focused on high-end Indigo presses for commercial printing and packaging.
Epson's ColorWorks range brought the digital label story to the expo — two models at INR 1.5-lakh and INR three-lakh, both using pigment ink that is non-tearable, water and oil resistant. The on-demand model addresses a specific inefficiency of pre-printed labels that become obsolete when regulations change. At an estimated INR 1.50 per label, the approach reduces waste and cost together.
Simmac's roll-to-roll printing technology for non-woven PP fabric addresses the booming reusable packaging segment, solving ink adhesion challenges that conventional methods struggle with. Creofoil's Piyush Bhutwala pointed to membrane switches, PCB printing, ceramic transfers and automotive decals as high-volume industrial segments where digital precision is increasingly critical.
The maturation of digital printing is inseparable from workflow intelligence. Heidelberg's Prinect, Indas Analytics' AI-enabled ERP, and platforms like the Revoria's print management tools all point to the same shift. Digital delivers full value only when connected to smart production management.
Patidar of Indas was direct when he admitted that the biggest gap is at the production floor. "Owners want results, but the data is not coming from the shopfloor." The company is addressing this through Print Pathshala for shopfloor training and Printude.AI, a modular app ecosystem spanning CRM, HRM and production management.
Also present at the show was Pezasys, showcasing a cloud-based ERP for label, flexible packaging and mono carton manufacturers — 17 modules covering the full workflow, hosted on AWS with no on-premise infrastructure required.
Cartons, finishing and additives
DGM reported approximately 48 machine installations in the last financial cycle — around 30 folder gluers, 10 to 12 die cutters, and the rest smart flute laminators, with flute share rising. Managing director Puneet Aggarwal described a structural substrate shift from higher GSM solid board giving way to three-ply corrugated for better strength at lower paper weight. DGM is also pushing inline Braille embossing, a legal requirement for pharma exports to Europe. On sentiment, Aggarwal was measured, he said, "The fundamentals of the Indian market are strong. Right now, it is more about sentiment than actual slowdown. When confidence returns, the market can pick up quickly."
Impress Graphic's semi-automatic V-grooving system — pneumatic, HMI-controlled, supporting rigid board and MDF up to 8 mm — drew three bookings at the expo. The Chennai-headquartered company offers complete rigid box line solutions.
Super Bond Adhesives presented India's only domestically manufactured polyolefin-based adhesive: temperature-stable from minus 20 to plus 80 degrees, bindable to 250 GSM without stitching, and compatible with standard hot-melt machines. Its Galaxy series continues to see strong adoption in pharma, ice cream and FMCG carton applications.
Growth without discipline
BK Karna of the Packaging Clinic and Research Institute offered a counterpoint to the growth narrative. India's packaging sector is growing at over 18%, well ahead of global averages but Karna argued the industry is bypassing the disciplines that should accompany that growth. Expiry date claims lack validation. Design has been reduced to aesthetics. Sustainability is claimed but not practiced. "We are growing, and this growth reflects the critical role packaging plays as the lifeline of every product. At the same time, the focus must remain on right-sizing, because excess packaging is a disease."
His PMT framework, assessing the nature of the product, market and transportation before specifying any pack, is simple but demands rigour that a volume-driven market often lacks.
Conclusion
Bharat Print Expo 2026 was not a show of tentative optimism. Companies arrived with new products, new partnerships and live strategies — and many left with orders. The conversations revealed an industry that has moved past pandemic recovery and is actively investing in the next phase: digital integration, automation, premium applications and geographic expansion into the south.
Challenges remain about cautious sentiment, tight working capital, global uncertainty. But as Puneet Aggarwal put it, "When confidence returns, the market can pick up quickly. At Bharat Print Expo 2026, that confidence was already there, stall by stall, order by order."