Ink in their veins

For decades, the printing industry has asked itself a slightly anxious question. Will the next generation return to the pressroom or move on to something else. At conferences, in boardrooms and in quiet conversations between founders, the concern has been constant. As businesses matured and families became more global in outlook, the assumption was that younger heirs would choose new-age sectors over ink, paper and production floors.

At a panel moderated by Naresh Khanna, editor of Indian Printer and Publishing and Packaging South Asia magazines, that assumption was quietly dismantled.

Looking at the group of young leaders seated beside him, Khanna set the tone with a mix of reflection and provocation. “You’ve often heard about the next generation of India,” he said. “For me, this is the next generation of our industry.” His remark did more than introduce the speakers. It reframed the narrative. This was no longer about succession anxiety. It was about continuity with intent.

The panellists represented companies built over decades through persistence, relationships and incremental growth. Many of these businesses had survived technology shifts, market cycles and structural changes in print demand. What sat on stage, however, was not a continuation of the same thinking. It was a cohort shaped by different exposures, different expectations and a sharper awareness of where the industry is heading.

Yet Khanna was quick to point out what was missing. “My only regret is that we don’t have the next generation of women here,” he said. “We are missing out on more than fifty to sixty percent of the talent.”

The observation landed with weight. It highlighted a structural gap that sits beneath the surface of many family-run print businesses in India. While succession has worked along traditional lines, inclusion has not kept pace.

Legacy, curiosity and the pull of print

For most of the panellists, joining the family business was not a single decision taken at a crossroads. It was something that formed gradually, almost by osmosis. The factory floor, the rhythm of machines, the conversations at home about jobs, clients and deadlines all played their part. By the time the formal choice appeared, the familiarity was already in place.

Ramit Goyal, Director, Goyal Offset Works, New Delhi, described this sense of continuity with clarity. “Ever since I was a kid, I have seen my grandfather and father build this printing business from the ground up,” he said. “I have seen the challenges that they have faced in their journey.” Those early observations, he suggested, did not just create comfort with the business. They created a sense of responsibility towards it.

For Goyal, stepping in was not about maintaining what existed. It was about moving it forward with intent. “My role when I entered this industry was to recognise the challenges they have faced and try and find solutions,” he said. That shift in mindset is telling. The next generation is not entering as caretakers alone. They are entering as problem-solvers, looking at inefficiencies, legacy systems and opportunities for improvement.

At the same time, he acknowledged the friction that comes with change. “The thing with the older generation is that because they have been doing certain things in a certain way their entire life, to change that perspective is a little problematic,” he said. It is a familiar dynamic across family-run businesses, where experience and new thinking often have to find a working balance rather than a clear winner.

For Anoop Venugopalan, Managing Director, Anaswara Offset, Kochi, the entry into the business was even less structured. “I was never asked to join the business till date,” he said. What drew him in was not expectation, but exposure. The founding partners, who had built the company after working together in the newspaper industry, created an environment that naturally pulled him in.

A school chemistry project became the turning point. Assigned to study a topic linked to printing, Venugopalan found himself engaging deeply with the factory for the first time. “That’s when I had to go in deep, talk to most of the people, and that’s when I got interested,” he said. What began as an academic exercise quietly turned into a career direction.

That interest translated into formal education in printing technology and eventually into operational responsibility within the business. His entry did not come with a formal announcement. It evolved through involvement, learning and gradual ownership of a function.

Sahil Shah’s story followed a similar pattern of exposure turning into engagement. “When I was young, we used to visit the factory for an event or for any special occasion,” said Shah, Director at Letra Graphix, Ahmedabad. Over time, those visits created familiarity, and familiarity turned into interest.

After completing his master’s degree abroad, Shah returned with options. “My dad told me that you have fourteen days of break, and on the fifteenth day, you can do whatever you want,” he said. “On the fifteenth day, I was in the office.” What followed was not hesitation but immersion.

He describes the industry with a sense of enthusiasm that is hard to miss. “It’s very fascinating. I find it pretty cool that I know what product is coming in the market six months before the launch,” he said. That ability to see the future of products before they reach consumers gives the business a certain immediacy and excitement.

Across these accounts, a pattern emerges. The next generation is not being pushed into the business. They are being drawn into it through exposure, curiosity and, in some cases, a sense of unfinished work. The pull of print, it seems, still holds.

Accidental beginnings, deliberate journeys

If there is one thread that runs through the panel, it is this. Entry into the business may be accidental, but staying in it is always deliberate. What begins as exposure or curiosity gradually hardens into commitment, shaped by hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of what the business demands.

Venugopalan’s story sits right at the centre of this idea. What started as a school project did not just introduce him to printing. It gave him a working view of the factory floor, the people who run it and the complexity behind what often looks like a straightforward process. That early immersion created a level of comfort that no classroom could replicate.

Once he chose to study printing technology, the transition became more structured. But even then, his entry into the company did not follow a formal induction. “I was working like a consultant initially,” he said, referring to his involvement in the company’s move to computer-to-plate technology. “Then I kind of blended into the system.” The phrasing is telling. There was no sharp entry point, only a gradual merging of learning and responsibility.

Siddhant Chamaria, partner at Nobel Printing & Packaging, Mumbai offered a more candid and almost disarming account of how he found his way in. “I always saw my parents, my uncle, my grandfather in the printing industry,” he said. The attraction, however, was not purely professional at the start. “The real reason I started going to the factory was that they used to pamper me a lot. I used to get good food every day.”

What begins with small comforts often turns into something more substantial. Regular visits became routine. Routine became familiarity. Familiarity turned into involvement. “Slowly, I don’t know, I never realised how I entered the business,” he said. The remark captures something important about family enterprises. Entry is rarely a single event. It is a process that unfolds over time, often without clear boundaries.

Sanjeet Joshi’s journey, while still rooted in family influence, carried a more reflective dimension. Having studied abroad, he had the distance to evaluate his choices. “It gave me a lot of time by myself to reflect and think,” Joshi, managing director at Temple Packaging, said. That distance allowed him to see the business not just as an inheritance, but as an opportunity to contribute.

“One day I realised that I want to give back to them and take care of everything so they get some time to rest,” he said, referring to his father and uncle. In his case, the decision was shaped as much by personal motivation as by professional interest. It was about continuity, but also about responsibility.

Across these stories, the idea of ‘joining the business’ takes on a different meaning. It is not a formal entry marked by designation or title. It is a gradual assumption of ownership, built through observation, participation and, eventually, decision-making.

What stands out is that none of the panellists describes their journey as reluctant. The routes may have been unplanned, even accidental at times, but the commitment that followed is anything but casual. The next generation may arrive in different ways, but once they step in, they tend to stay with purpose.

Betting on technology, even when it is uncomfortable

If the earlier part of the discussion was about how the next generation enters the business, this part revealed how they intend to change it. The clearest signal lies in their willingness to invest in technology, often ahead of where the market appears to be.

Khanna set this up with a pointed observation. In a market where many believe commercial printing is under pressure, some companies are moving aggressively into packaging or exports.

Against that backdrop, Goyal’s decision stood out. His company invested in not one but two eight-colour perfecting presses, a move typically associated with large-scale export printers rather than domestic commercial players.

Goyal explained the logic in practical terms. “We realised that the older presses require the same amount of energy, power and manpower,” he said. “But the new presses deliver almost double the production with consistent quality.” The shift, in his view, was less about expansion and more about efficiency.

In a market where competition is intense and margins are constantly under pressure, consistency becomes a differentiator. “Clients now require quality over anything and fast turnaround times,” he said. The new presses, he added, have helped reduce wastage, control costs and deliver repeatable results.

What is significant here is not just the investment, but the mindset behind it. The decision was not driven by external trends such as export demand or diversification into packaging. It was driven by a desire to fix what exists before chasing what is next.

Goyal was clear about the sequencing. Exports may come, but only after the fundamentals are in place. “We first want to master the scale, the quality and the control that we have over the domestic market,” he said. That approach reflects a more disciplined way of thinking about growth, where capability precedes expansion.

This also challenges a widely held assumption in the industry. Commercial printing is often seen as a mature or even declining segment. Yet the panel suggests that with the right investments and operational discipline, it can still be competitive and profitable.

What the next generation seems to recognise is that technology is no longer optional. It is not about having the latest machine as a statement. It is about using technology to remove inefficiencies that have existed for years. In that sense, these investments are less about ambition and more about correction.

And perhaps that is where the real shift lies. The next generation is not waiting for the market to justify investment. They are using investment to reshape how they compete in that market.

Automation moves beyond the press

Once the discussion moved from investment to operations, the focus shifted quickly to automation. What became clear is that for this generation, automation is no longer confined to the printing press. It is being understood as a system that runs through the entire organisation.

Khanna nudged the conversation in this direction by asking about standardisation and the role of new technology. Chamaria of Nobel Printing & Packaging responded with a practical example drawn from his own operations. “We are running four plants across the country,” he said. “If I can do something in this plant, the colour has to be the same across all plants.” The challenge, in other words, is not just printing well. It is printing consistently, regardless of location.

Automation, he explained, makes that possible. With a centralised prepress setup and tools that allow colour data to be stored and shared across machines, operators can reproduce the same output with far greater accuracy. Features such as auto register and cloud-based colour management reduce dependency on individual skill and bring repeatability into the system.

What these points point to is a shift in how quality is defined. It is no longer about achieving a good result once. It is about achieving the same result every time, across multiple locations, operators and machines.

Bhrigav Jain, Director for R&D and Sales at Monarch Graphics, Noida expanded the idea further, arguing that automation must be seen as a much broader construct. “Automation is not only about the press investment,” he said. “It is about ERP systems, air-conditioning monitoring, attendance management and even firefighting systems.” The scope, as he described it, covers the entire plant ecosystem.

This wider definition is important because it reflects how modern print operations are evolving. Stability in production does not come only from the press. It depends on environmental control, workflow management and the ability to monitor and respond to deviations in real time.

He pointed out that automation now extends into areas such as people movement, security systems and internal logistics. Cameras, sensors and tracking tools are increasingly being used to understand how work flows through a plant, where inefficiencies exist and how they can be addressed.

Khanna summed it up by placing the human element back at the centre. Automation may build the loop, he suggested, but people still complete it. Systems can guide, measure and optimise, but they require a culture that understands and uses them effectively.

What emerges from this discussion is a clear shift in thinking. Automation is no longer a feature of the pressroom. It is the backbone of the organisation. And for the next generation, building that backbone is as critical as investing in the machine itself.

Data becomes the decision engine

If automation is the backbone, data is what gives it direction. As the discussion moved forward, it became clear that the next shift in the industry is not just about running machines better, but about understanding what those machines are telling you.

Khanna steered the conversation towards data by pointing out how connected today’s print ecosystem has become. With thousands of machines linked globally, manufacturers are already analysing performance, predicting maintenance and optimising output. The question, he suggested, was whether individual companies are doing the same within their own operations.

Joshi picked up on this with a grounded view. “Data is much easier to come by now,” he said. Access, which was once a limitation, is no longer the issue. The real challenge lies in how that data is structured, interpreted and used.

He described data as the base layer for future decisions. When collected consistently through systems such as ERP platforms and machine interfaces, it allows companies to move away from instinct-led operations towards more calculated choices. “All future decisions can be better calculated using data,” he said.

What has changed in recent years is the speed at which data can be processed. Tasks that were once tedious and time-consuming can now be handled through integrated systems and analytical tools. With the growing role of artificial intelligence, the ability to convert raw data into usable insights has improved significantly.

Khanna pushed further, asking whether companies are using this data not just to observe but to actively improve productivity. The implication was clear. Data has value only when it leads to action.

Joshi pointed to the role of structured systems in making that possible. ERP platforms, he said, play a critical role in collecting and organising data across functions. Over time, these systems build a repository of information that can be used to identify patterns, improve efficiency and support decision-making.

What emerges here is a quiet but important shift in how print businesses are run. Decisions are moving from experience-driven judgment to evidence-backed reasoning. The instinct of the previous generation is being supplemented, and in some cases challenged, by measurable insight.

For the next generation, this is not just an operational advantage. It is a way of thinking. Data is not an output of the system. It is becoming the system through which the business is understood and managed.

Beyond print, towards partnership

As the conversation moved from data to its potential applications, Khanna opened up a more speculative but important line of thinking. If printers are already custodians of brand assets, colours and packaging execution, could they extend that role into adjacent digital territories.

The idea was not entirely far-fetched. With connected packaging, cloud-based systems and increasing digitisation of supply chains, there is a growing layer of information that sits alongside the physical product. Printers, by virtue of their position in the value chain, are already close to that layer.

Khanna framed it as an opportunity. Could packaging companies, he asked, evolve into service providers who manage not just print but also digital interfaces linked to packaging? Could they, for instance, host or manage data for brand owners who increasingly prefer to outsource specialised functions?

Joshi of Temple Packaging acknowledged the direction of travel but introduced a note of realism. “It’s a very interesting thought,” he said, suggesting that the industry could indeed move that way over time. At the same time, he pointed out that certain sectors, particularly pharmaceuticals, come with regulatory constraints that make such shifts more complex.

Compliance, data privacy and validation requirements create boundaries that cannot be easily crossed. While the opportunity exists, its execution would depend on how regulations evolve and how comfortable brand owners are in extending that responsibility to their print partners.

Jain of Monarch Graphics approached the question from a different angle, drawing a line between opportunity and capability. Moving into software-led services, he argued, may not be the most efficient path for printing companies. “It is not a very advisable thing to go into software as a service,” he said, pointing out that it requires a different kind of expertise and organisational focus.

Instead, he suggested a model based on collaboration. Printers, in his view, should work closely with technology firms that are already operating in this space. By contributing their understanding of print processes and packaging applications, they can help shape solutions that are more practical and better aligned with real-world requirements.

This approach shifts the focus from diversification to partnership. Rather than trying to build entirely new capabilities in-house, companies can extend their reach by aligning with specialists. It also reduces the risk of spreading resources too thin in a business that is already capital-intensive.

What becomes evident in this exchange is a maturing perspective. The next generation is open to exploring new opportunities, but not at the cost of losing focus. The emphasis is on expanding intelligently, knowing where to lead and where to collaborate.

In that sense, the future of print may not lie in moving away from its core, but in building stronger connections around it.