Fujifilm completes shift to a digital-only strategy as offset printers drive adoption

Priyatosh Kumar, associate director and head of graphic communications and device technology, Fujifilm India, reflects on the year gone by, emphasising not on incremental growth but on a structural shift that has been a few years in the making. “2025 was a very good year for our digital business,” he told PrintWeek, adding that the company had now completed its exit from analogue plate technologies in India. “By FY 2026, we will only be selling digital devices.”
 
The transition marked the end of Fujifilm’s plates business in the Indian market, including process-free plates, which the company continued to classify as analogue. Electro-photographic and inkjet technologies now form the sole focus of its graphic communications portfolio in the country. At Pamex, Fujifilm positioned this shift against steady growth in digital print adoption, particularly among offset printers adding digital presses to handle short runs, urgent jobs and value-added applications.
 
Kumar said the company did not track market performance purely by unit numbers, noting that Fujifilm operated primarily in the mid- and high-end production segment with the very recent launch of entry production machines. Of the estimated 2,700 digital presses installed in India in 2025, he said the addressable market for Fujifilm’s core production portfolio was over 100 units.
 
Including entry production and photo-focused devices, Fujifilm’s total digital installations crossed 300 units. “About a third of our installations are now with offset printers,” Kumar said, adding that these customers on the mid- to high-end range machines typically run between 80,000 and 1-lakh impressions a month on digital. “That volume may not look large, but it delivers operational efficiency, faster turnaround and higher realisation compared to offset for those jobs.”
 
He explained that digital presses were not positioned as substitutes for offset, but as complementary assets. Long runs continued to sit on offset, while short runs and ultra short runs, urgent work and variable data moved to digital, allowing printers to retain customers and improve overall return on investment. “If a printer cannot offer short-run work, they risk losing the entire customer basket,” he said.
 
Applications with special colours were emerging as another differentiator. Kumar said around 10% of Fujifilm’s colour volumes involved special colours such as gold, silver, white and clear, enabling printers to charge a premium. “The idea is not to push all jobs into a special colour,” he said. “If 90% runs at market price and 10% delivers a premium, that improves ROI.”
 
Fujifilm’s portfolio strategy reflected this segmentation. The Revoria brand addressed mid- to high-end production requirements, while the Apeos range covered office and entry production devices. Kumar said the company now had offerings suited to monthly volumes ranging from a few thousand sheets to several hundred thousand, allowing printers in tier-two and tier-three cities to enter digital printing at lower investment levels and scale up over time.
 
He also pointed to technology choices as part of Fujifilm’s differentiation, including Emulsified aggregated toners that are environmentally friendly, LED technology and in-house workflow and RIP development. “We control the machine, the workflow and the software,” he said. “That allows faster updates and more consistent performance for customers.”
 
Looking ahead, Kumar described digital production printing as a high-value but still niche segment, accounting for a small share of total print volumes in India. While this limited the immediate scope for domestic press manufacturing, he saw inkjet as the technology with potential to address larger-scale volume needs in the future.
 
Against that backdrop, Fujifilm’s message at Pamex was one of consolidation rather than experimentation. “We have now completed our exit from plates and analogue technologies, and are positioning ourselves as a digital-only supplier focused on operational efficiency, application-led growth and long-term customer retention rather than pure speed or volume metrics,” Kumar concluded.

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