Gayathri Machinery engages with customers at Pamex

At Pamex 2026, Gayathri Machinery has seen steady engagement rather than instant deal-making. “There are more exhibitors this time, and space feels tighter. But we’re meeting new people and a lot of existing customers. It’s one place where you meet everyone in the industry once a year,” said Uday Grover, managing partner, Gayathri Machinery. 

Grover observed a strong export performance in consumables, offset by rising costs on the machinery side, creating what he describes as a “mixed bag” year. “2025 has been good so far. Our core business is stitching wire, which we manufacture, and our exports have done extremely well. Currency fluctuation and the devaluation of the rupee worked in our favour on exports.” At the same time, imports became significantly more expensive. “Everything that we import has become more and more costly. So, it has been a mixed year.”

Looking ahead to 2026, Grover candidly said, “I have absolutely no idea what Trump is going to do and how it will impact the economy,” he said. “But overall, the Indian market looks steady and strong.”

While capital expenditure may see some hesitation, consumables are expected to grow. That expectation is firmly rooted in Gayathri Machinery’s recent performance. “Consumables have done fantastically well. Including exports, sales have gone beyond our expectations. We have been running at almost 100% capacity for the last ten months, and the next two months look equally strong.”

One area of renewed focus is wire stitching equipment from Germany. The stitching heads supplied by the company are now widely used by Indian OEMs. Currently, there are close to 23,000 to 24,000 stitching heads running in India today.  With such a large installed base, aftermarket demand remains strong.

Grover explained the long-term strategy behind reintroducing the full machines. “Earlier, customers were comparing an INR 50,000 machine with our INR 5.5–6 lakh machine. That was a tough comparison.”  Today, the comparison looks very different. “Indian machines now cost INR 1.8 to 2-lakh, excluding the stitching head. So when we come back at INR six-lakh, the comparison is no longer 12 times — it’s about two times. For the same price, you get a far superior product.”

Grover believes this will resonate strongly with digital printers. “For short-run digital applications, this makes a lot of sense. Digital printers will take this seriously because the quality is far superior.”

On the broader market, Grover sees clear shifts across print segments. “If you look at the number of sheets converted, digital is growing very fast. Commercial offset is shrinking. Packaging offset, on the other hand, is booming.” While formats may change, Grover is unequivocal about the future of print. “Print is not going anywhere, not in India, not anywhere in the world.” He recalled long-standing predictions of print’s demise. “Back in 2008, people said print would die in five or ten years. Later, they said printing would become shaftless, waterless, filmless and maybe paperless. But that hasn’t happened.” As a third-generation print professional, Grover remains confident. “Printing will still be alive. It may change form, but it’s not going anywhere.”

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