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The ten commandments of print entrepreneurship

Vimal Parmar — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:31:00

Over the past two years, Vimal Parmar’s Dispatches have charted the journeys of these print titans: from BR Murali’s pioneering cinematic leaps at Sumulas Colour Lab to the archival evangelism of V Karthik and the niche mastery of Kedar Bhide. These are not relics of a bygone era; they are engineers, marketers, corporate executives, and artists who mastered the cold logic of technology to infuse it with the warmth of craft.

Their stories—of near-failure, relentless innovation, and deep conviction—reveal a singular, collective strategy for success. Distilled from their triumphs and trials, here are Vimal Parmar’s Ten Commandments for any entrepreneur looking to find fortune in the fusion of digital tech and physical print.

I. Thou Shalt Master the Hybrid Machine

The new print mogul is not married to a single technology. They are alchemists of the analogue and the digital. BR Murali’s journey from video cassettes to silver halide (AgX) to Kodak Nexpress, and finally embracing HP Indigo, is the blueprint. His integration of a Scodix S75 for print embellishments—an unconventional but successful choice—underscores the need for technological promiscuity.

The commandment is not just about owning the latest press; it’s about orchestration. Suvid Wilson (Suvi Color Spot) deploys a triumvirate of electro-photography (HP Indigo 12000 HD), inkjet (Canon DreamLabo 5000), and Fujifilm Revoria. Prathyaksh Huttingade (Uday Digital) tinkers to maximise each device’s potential. The modern print lab is a sophisticated, multi-tool ecosystem, using silver halide for its proven archival quality, HP Indigo for volume and versatility, and large-format inkjet for fine art. Obsession with equipment performance—like Huttinagadde’s—is the new corporate mandate.

II. Thou Shalt Specialise to Transcend Price

In an industry constantly undercut by unorganised players and low-cost digital presses, the only escape from the price wars is through specialisation and premiumisation. This is the path of the master craftsman like Rajiv Panchal (Ultraa Albums), who focuses on handcrafted, exclusive layflat flush-mount albums for global export, or Rohit Panchal (Image Media), who transitioned from the corporate grind to a boutique fine art studio.

Kedar Bhide (Nature Works) and Sarbajoy Paul (Congelata Momento) have built their entire business on this principle, targeting the niche of visual artists, museums, and galleries who demand museum-grade archival quality. Their clients pay a premium because the product is not a commodity. V Karthik (IS Creative) carved a niche in archival and industrial photography, with institutional orders reaching into the millions. The message is clear: if you are selling a product, you compete on cost; if you are selling a masterpiece with certified expertise (like Hahnemuhle Certified Studio), you dictate the value.

III. Thou Shalt Advocate the Archival Truth

The single greatest threat to the industry is not rival technology but consumer perception that digital storage is sufficient. The entrepreneur’s duty is to become an evangelist for the enduring power of print. Aditya Upadhyaya (Super Foto) stresses the need to educate the customers on the benefits of printed photographs that can endure for over 100 years. This conviction is shared across the board.

Purushottam Todi (Shree Shyam Global Press) and Dinesh Khimani (Plezer Digital) both lament the growing trend towards digital soft copies and call for a collective industry effort to counteract it. They point out the emotional and archival value that a digital file cannot replicate. This Commandment is a battle cry: Print is the secure, lasting, and emotionally resonant archive. The inspiring trend of children restoring their parents’ old slip-in albums into new digital print versions, as seen by Khimani, proves the lasting human connection to a physical image.

IV. Thou Shalt Diversify the Memory Portfolio

While the wedding album remains the industry’s bread and butter, reliance on it alone is a fatal risk. Diversification into untapped consumer segments is crucial for sustainable growth. Wilson saw the potential for higher volumes in consumer photobooks like birthday, baptism, and travel albums. Huttinagadde actively promotes The Gram Book, a 12x12-inch compilation of a person’s Instagram photos.

This shift involves not just creating new products but establishing new channels, such as online ventures or exploring markets beyond photography, as seen by Samir Pansare (Samir Scantech) who services interior design, fashion, retail and corporate entities with wide-format printing. The market for memory extends far beyond a single event; it covers travel, corporate milestones, home decor, and personal legacies.

V. Thou Shalt Value People Above All Process

The success of a technology-driven business ultimately rests on the human element. Kamal Kishor Parekh (Kokuyo Riddhi) encapsulates this with his motto: people, passion and performance (in that order). The team is the competitive differentiator. Upadhyaya focuses on promoting staff growth by aligning roles with skills and offering outcome-based incentives. Murali’s success is tied to his 70-member team and his very focused consultation with professional photographers.

The emphasis is on building a family atmosphere, as described by Rohit Panchal (Image Media), and empowering every team member to ensure quality control, as practiced by Murali. The human touch, including manual colour correction (Upadhyaya) and client consultation (Bhide, Kothari)— is the ultimate non-replicable asset.

VI. Thou Shalt Seek Perfection in Media and Finish

The final product is a sensory experience, a tactile link to a frozen moment. This requires absolute commitment to material and post-print mastery. Non-tear media, particularly NovaLife from TechNova, is the undisputed foundation for wedding albums across the South Indian print landscape (Murali, Upadhyaya, Huttinagadde, Khimani). But quality goes further: it is about the finish.

Panchal’s in-house UV treatment enhances durability, and his focus on bespoke, hand-crafted binding turns an album into a museum piece. V Karthik’s use of museum-grade Hahnemuehle, Ilford, and Epson media, combined with specialised workflows for vintage photos and custom archival boxes, sets the gold standard. For the new print industry, the substrate and the finish are not production decisions; they are brand promises.

VII. Thou Shalt Innovate Beyond the Album’s Page

Innovation is the relentless pursuit of new experiences for the customer. This can be grand, like Wilson’s butterfly-shaped photobook, or subtle, like Todi’s integration of QR codes linking physical albums to their digital counterparts. It is a constant search for “Naya kya hai? (What’s new),” as Todi’s customers regularly ask.

Huttinagadde’s introduction of full-colour gamut printing—enhancing colours while maintaining natural skin tones—is a prime example of a premium, technologically-driven innovation. Even in the fine art space, Bhide is now introducing Chromaluxe metal prints. The market rewards the proactive mind that refuses to settle, as echoed by Upadhyaya’s mantra: Never settle.

VIII. Thou Shalt Embrace the Global Mindset

The best ideas are rarely local. To stay ahead, one must maintain a global perspective on market trends, technology, and consumer behaviour. Murali’s 13 visits to the China Wedding Expo since 2009 is a testament to this commitment, driven by the belief that there is an abundance of knowledge and inspiration to glean from each visit.

Upadhyaya’s participation in Dscoop (Digital Solutions Cooperative) and his nomination as India Chair underscores the importance of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing across borders. Khimani’s advice to manufacturers to be highly receptive to market suggestions reflects this same outward-looking philosophy. Whether it is through industry associations, trade shows, or simply studying organisations like Cewe and Shutterfly (Murali), success requires benchmarking against the world’s best.

IX. Thou Shalt Transform a Life’s Calling into a Business Plan

A profound, almost spiritual passion is the emotional energy source that powers these businesses through challenging times. As Murali advises newcomers, “Come only if you are passionate about the photography industry. Getting in only from the business point of view will limit your success.”

The print entrepreneurs are often engineers (Panchal, Huttinagadde) or artists (Bhide, Pansare, Paul) who followed a deeper calling. Bhide, a former corporate global head, founded Nature Works after a personal struggle to find quality prints for his own photography exhibition. Paul, with a background in genetics and biochemistry, runs his darkroom with the precise chemistry of a scientist and the soul of an artist. This passion provides the resilience to push through a tough time like the Covid-19 pandemic, where, as Murali recalled, businesses were down on their knees.

X. Thou Shalt Lead with Ethics and Conscience

Beyond profit, the future of the industry is intrinsically linked to responsibility—to the environment, the community, and one’s own team. Sustainability is no longer a marketing option; it is an operational imperative. Huttinagadde, with his background as a print industrialist, emphasises a deep commitment to minimising our environmental impact. Khimani and the Panchal family responsibly sell all waste materials to recycling agencies.

Karthik’s efforts go further, including rainwater harvesting and a commitment to minimise media and ink usage. Parekh’s commitment to community and quiet generosity underscores the idea that Business must always have a human touch. For these leaders, the final product must not only preserve memories for a lifetime but must also leave the planet a better place. The quality of a print must be matched by the quality of the company’s character.

Labels to take centre stage in India’s packaging planet — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:00:00

The label is no longer a supporting element in packaging. It has evolved into the primary interface between product, brand and consumer, influencing both perception and purchase. Opening the session, moderator Amit Shah of Spectrum Scan, sets the tone by noting that labels are now central to packaging conversations rather than an afterthought. “Labels are now the ‘in thing’ in the packaging industry,” he says, framing the discussion around growth, relevance and opportunity.

The scale of engagement reflects this shift. The webinar attracted more than 300 registrations, with over 100 delegates attending live, underscoring growing interest in labels across the broader print and packaging ecosystem.

What follows is not just a discussion on print processes, but a deeper examination of how the label industry is being reshaped by demand fragmentation, technological convergence and rising expectations around sustainability. The panel’s insights reveal an industry transitioning from volume-led growth to capability-led differentiation.

A market in transition

Setting the context, Suhas Kulkarni of Soma outlines a market that is expanding in both size and complexity. While the global label market is approaching a trillion dollars, South Asia is projected to reach around USD 3.89-billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.2%, he explains. The opportunity, he suggests, lies not just in scale, but in how labels are being redefined across applications.

Kulkarni emphasises that labels are no longer limited to identification. “The label is a silent salesperson,” he says, highlighting its role in branding, communication and consumer engagement. This shift is particularly visible in segments such as personal care and food, where the label becomes the first and last point of interaction with the consumer.

He identifies three structural drivers shaping demand. SKU proliferation is increasing the number of variants and reducing run lengths, forcing converters to rethink production models. Regulatory compliance, especially in pharma, is introducing complexity through traceability and anti-counterfeiting requirements. At the same time, eCommerce is accelerating the need for variable data and faster turnaround.

Kulkarni adds that in India, food and beverage, pharma and personal care together account for nearly 75% of label consumption within an estimated USD 2.5-billion market, highlighting the concentration of demand across key sectors. He describes the current phase as a recalibration, where growth is defined not just by capacity but by capability, with hybrid technologies, automation and sustainability frameworks shaping future competitiveness.

From cost to capability

If the market is evolving, so too is the basis of competition. Ranesh Bajaj of Vinsak, positions this shift as a move from cost-driven manufacturing to technology-led packaging. “There is a packaging surge globally, and even more so in India because of the growing economy and per capita income,” he says, adding that the industry is steadily transitioning towards a technology-driven ecosystem.

This transition is most visible in the way demand is being restructured. Bajaj points out that FMCG brands today operate with multiple variants across geographies and languages. “You can have 50 variants, 40 languages and 30 states,” he says, explaining how this quickly multiplies into over 1,200 SKUs for a single product. The implication is clear. What was once a high-volume job is now fragmented into hundreds of shorter runs, each requiring faster turnaround and minimal inventory.

He adds that anti-counterfeiting and sustainability are no longer optional. Both have become essential requirements for brands, even as converters continue to face the challenge of delivering sustainable solutions without significantly increasing costs. The pressure, he notes, is to innovate while maintaining commercial viability.

On print technologies, Bajaj highlights that each process continues to have relevance, but their roles are shifting. Offset, he explains, offers the lowest cost of origination among conventional processes, making it competitive even in shorter runs. Flexo, meanwhile, has improved significantly and is now the dominant technology across narrow, mid and wide web formats, effectively replacing gravure in many applications.

Digital printing continues to gain ground, particularly with the rise of UV inkjet and hybrid systems. However, higher operating costs remain a constraint, even as manufacturers work to reduce ink and printhead expenses. This is where hybrid configurations are emerging as a practical solution.

“The future is hybrid,” Bajaj says, emphasising that converters can no longer rely on a single technology. Instead, they must build multi-process capabilities and route each job to the most efficient platform based on run length, application and cost. He cites an example of a recent installation combining flexo units for primers and coatings, offset for halftone quality and a digital module for variable data, enabling end-to-end production in a single pass.

Bajaj concludes by stressing that technology alone is not enough. Process efficiency, he notes, is equally critical. Without discipline in day-to-day operations, converters will struggle to remain competitive in a market that increasingly rewards speed, flexibility and precision.

The economics of shorter runs

While technology enables flexibility, economics determines viability. Manish Desai, director at Mudrika Labels, brings a converter’s perspective to the discussion, highlighting the operational realities behind the shift to shorter runs and faster turnaround. “Short runs are increasing, but they do not come cheap,” he says, cautioning against viewing digital as a universal solution.

Desai points out that while digital adoption is growing, its success depends heavily on utilisation and market alignment. He notes that a significant proportion of digital installations in India are yet to achieve consistent business viability, largely because investment decisions are often driven by trends rather than customer demand. For converters, the key is to understand their application mix and invest accordingly, rather than assuming digital will solve all short-run challenges.

At the same time, he stresses that conventional technologies are also evolving to handle shorter runs more efficiently. With the right equipment and processes, converters can significantly reduce turnaround times even on flexo and offset. Desai cites operational benchmarks from his own facility, where multiple short-run jobs are executed within a single shift. “We are doing six to seven job changeovers of around 5,000 metres each in an eight-hour shift,” he says, illustrating how process optimisation can offset the limitations of shorter runs.

This focus on efficiency is directly linked to sustainability. “The wastage you save is sustainability,” Desai explains, highlighting how reduced setup waste, faster changeovers and better machine performance contribute to both cost savings and lower environmental impact.

However, he remains pragmatic about the broader sustainability debate. While acknowledging its importance, he points out that it comes at a cost and that customers are often unwilling to pay a premium for it. The challenge for converters, therefore, is to integrate sustainable practices without eroding margins.

Desai concludes by emphasising that future investments must be performance-driven rather than cost-driven. In a market defined by shorter runs, faster turnaround and increasing complexity, the ability to deliver efficiency at scale will determine competitiveness.

Sustainability meets reality

Sustainability is a recurring theme, but the discussion reflects a pragmatic approach. While the need for sustainable solutions is widely acknowledged, the cost implications remain a challenge for converters.

Desai highlights that sustainability initiatives involve investments in materials, compliance and systems, yet customers are often unwilling to pay a premium. Bajaj echoes this concern, suggesting that the industry must focus on making sustainability cost-neutral through efficiency and innovation.

From a materials perspective, Harveer Sahni, chairman of Weldon Celloplast, traces the evolution of label substrates from wet glue systems to pressure-sensitive constructions and newer formats such as shrink sleeves and in-mould labels. He explains that early wet glue labels were constrained by drying time and application inefficiencies, which accelerated the shift towards pressure-sensitive labels.

“By the 1990s, pressure-sensitive labels had begun registering robust double-digit growth,” Sahni says, adding that the entry of global players such as Avery Dennison in 1998 further catalysed the development of labelstock manufacturing in India. Today, self-adhesive substrates account for nearly 50% of the label market, underlining their ease of use and versatility across applications.

He notes that the maturation of UV technologies played a key role in the rise of filmic labels, enabling higher-quality finishes and faster production. While paper-based labels continue to hold relevance, filmic substrates have grown rapidly, supported by the expansion of polymer manufacturing in India. The development of BOPP films, beginning with early installations in the late 1970s and scaling with industrial investments in the following decades, laid the foundation for this growth. BOPP today remains one of the most widely used polymers in label applications.

As the market evolved, new label formats emerged to address specific application needs. Wrap-around labels, shrink sleeves and in-mould labels expanded the scope of labelling beyond traditional formats. Sahni highlights that shrink sleeves, in particular, gained traction due to their ability to provide 360-degree branding, significantly enhancing shelf appeal and consumer engagement.

Material innovation has also been shaped by regulatory and environmental considerations. PVC, which was initially used for shrink applications, faced resistance due to toxicity concerns, particularly in food and pharma packaging. This led to the adoption of alternative materials such as PET and PE, which offered improved safety and performance characteristics.

Sahni also points to the development of specialised applications such as heat transfer labels, typically based on PET substrates, which have found niche uses in durable and high-performance labelling. Overall, he suggests that substrate innovation has expanded the market rather than replacing existing segments, with multiple materials and formats coexisting to serve diverse application requirements.

Scaling the business

As the industry evolves, the challenge for converters is not just growth, but sustainable growth. Anuj Bhargava, founder of Kumar Labels, identifies scaling while retaining speed and profitability as the central issue. “The biggest challenge is scaling it, while retaining speed and profits,” he says, highlighting the balancing act required in a dynamic and fragmented market.

Bhargava emphasises the need for a clearly defined strategy that is continuously reviewed. With customers, product formats and market expectations constantly changing, converters must regularly reassess where they want to play, whether in premium segments, mass markets or specific applications. Strategic clarity, he suggests, is the foundation on which all other decisions, including technology and investment, must be built.

Operationally, he points to process automation as a critical enabler of scale. Handling increasing job volumes requires robust systems, not just machines. “If you are processing 500 to 1,500 jobs a month, you are also creating 1,600 job cards and dispatch documents, and someone has to ensure there are no errors,” he explains, underlining the importance of ERP and MIS integration. A well-structured system, he adds, is just as important as a high-performance press in delivering faster turnaround.

Talent remains another key constraint. Bhargava notes that industries with a strong element of craft, such as print, face persistent challenges in acquiring and retaining skilled manpower. Scaling talent, he says, is often more difficult than scaling infrastructure, particularly as technology continues to evolve.

On digital, he takes a measured view. While adoption will continue to grow, it will reach scale only when costs, consumables and business models align with market expectations. Digital, in his view, is an important tool, but not a standalone solution.

Sustainability, he concludes, must be approached through efficiency rather than cost escalation. “It is about doing more with less,” he says, pointing to measures such as reducing wastage, optimising asset utilisation and lowering energy consumption. Technologies such as LED UV, which can reduce power usage by 50% to 60%, are examples of how sustainability can be aligned with operational efficiency.

At the same time, Bhargava remains pragmatic about market realities. While sustainability is widely discussed, customers are rarely willing to pay a premium for it. The onus, therefore, is on converters to integrate sustainable practices without compromising profitability, reinforcing the shift towards efficiency-led growth.

The takeaway

The broader takeaway is clear. The label industry is no longer defined by volume alone. It is being reshaped by complexity, speed and the need for integration across technology, materials and processes.

As the discussion suggests, the next phase of growth will belong to converters who can balance efficiency with innovation and scale with agility. The label, once a peripheral element, has firmly moved to the centre of packaging strategy.

The MCOP series of webinars is an effort by the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) in association with PressIdeas aimed at free knowledge dissemination for the Indian printing and packaging industry. Organisational support for the webinar is provided by PressIdeas and has been in its 12th edition over the last year and a half. The series was initiated under the chairmanship of Manoj Mehta, a two-time past president of AIFMP, and continues under the leadership of the current chairman, Amit Shah.

Why estimating accuracy still collapses on the shop floor

Madan Singh — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:45:00

Across many Indian printing plants, estimating systems have become increasingly sophisticated. Modern MIS platforms can generate detailed cost calculations within seconds, incorporating paper consumption, machine speeds, make-ready times, labour allocation, and finishing processes.

Yet a familiar frustration persists: the estimate appears accurate at the quoting stage, but the job still ends up losing money.

This gap between digital estimation and shopfloor reality is rarely due to flawed formulas. More often, it reflects a deeper structural issue in how estimating assumptions are maintained and validated. Most estimating engines are mathematically sound; what weakens them is the absence of continuous, ground-truth feedback from production.

The illusion of static accuracy

In many print organisations, estimating is treated as a one-time computational exercise. Machine speeds are configured, standard setup times defined, and costing tables carefully populated during implementation. Once established, the system begins producing precise-looking numbers.

The challenge lies in the assumption that these standards remain stable.

Printing is inherently dynamic. Machine performance drifts, substrate characteristics vary between batches, operator experience differs across shifts, and setup times fluctuate depending on job complexity. Even minor inefficiencies in handling or changeovers accumulate into measurable losses.

When estimating models assume stability while production behaves dynamically, the gap between calculated cost and actual performance quietly widens. The estimate remains formally correct, but operationally disconnected.

Where leakage begins

Profit erosion in print rarely stems from major errors. Instead, it builds through small, persistent deviations: setup times exceeding defined standards, machines running below assumed speeds, micro-stoppages during long runs going unrecorded, idle time between short jobs, and delays in material movement between departments. Individually, these appear insignificant. Collectively, they distort estimating accuracy.

The issue is compounded by delayed feedback. In many plants, variance analysis takes place days or weeks after job completion, by which time the operational context has already been lost. Estimating becomes a retrospective exercise rather than a real-time control mechanism.

The missing feedback loop

The real gap is not in estimating capability, but in feedback discipline.

When production data is captured closer to the point of occurrence, several improvements follow. Standard times begin to reflect actual performance. Estimating teams recalibrate assumptions based on evidence rather than intuition. Conversations between sales, planning, and production shift from defensive to constructive.

Estimating, in such environments, becomes a living operational discipline rather than a static configuration.

A grounded observation

At Vakil & Sons, closer analysis of machine-level behaviour revealed recurring deviations that were being averaged out in periodic reviews. While overall efficiency appeared acceptable, specific loss patterns were repeatedly missed.

Only when visibility moved closer to real-time production did these patterns become actionable. What initially seemed like isolated inefficiencies proved to be repeatable and correctable.

The system itself was not the weakness. The delay and aggregation of feedback were.

From post-mortem to live calibration

The next step for print organisations is clear: estimating must evolve from static assumptions to continuously validated production intelligence.

When assumptions are regularly refreshed using real operational data, quote confidence improves, margin surprises reduce, and cross-functional collaboration strengthens. This is not primarily a software issue. It is a shift in operational mindset.

Plants that treat estimating as a dynamic discipline are better positioned to protect margins in an environment of shorter runs and increasing variability.

The question that matters

For years, the industry has asked: Is our estimating system configured correctly? A more relevant question today is: How quickly does real production behaviour feed back into our estimating assumptions? In a variable production environment, estimating accuracy cannot be static. It must be continuously earned.

When that feedback loop closes, estimating stops being a theoretical exercise and becomes a true instrument of profitability.

Ink in their veins

Noel D'Cunha — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:32:00

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.

PTA Mumbai delegation visits Jani Sales and Sejal Glass

PrintWeek Team — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:22:00

This initiative was conceptualised with a clear objective — to bridge the gap between trade and manufacturing, while offering members a first-hand understanding of production processes, quality benchmarks, operational efficiencies, and emerging industry practices.

The visit saw enthusiastic participation from members across the association, reflecting a strong collective intent to learn, collaborate, and grow. In today’s evolving business environment, where market conditions are dynamic and competition is intense, such initiatives play a crucial role in helping members stay aligned with industry realities and future trends.

Jani Sales

The first leg of the visit took members to Jani Sales, a respected name in the paper trade known for its commitment to quality and consistency. Members were introduced to the end-to-end operations of the company — from sourcing and processing to packaging and dispatch. A key highlight was the company’s strong focus on quality control at every stage. The systems and processes implemented to ensure consistency and reliability were appreciated by all attendees.

What stood out during this visit was the discipline in execution. In an industry where margins can be challenging, maintaining high-quality standards consistently becomes a significant competitive advantage. The management also shared valuable insights into operational challenges and how they navigate them with efficiency and foresight.

Sejal Glass

The second leg of the visit was to Sejal Glass, a leading player in architectural glass manufacturing. This visit offered members a broader perspective on how allied industries operate and how innovation and technology play a critical role in value creation.

At Sejal Glass, members witnessed advanced manufacturing processes such as toughening, insulating, and specialised glass treatments. The scale of operations, combined with the use of modern technology, left a lasting impression on the delegation.

The company’s emphasis on innovation, product diversification, and adherence to global quality standards highlighted the importance of continuously evolving with market demands. Members found it particularly interesting to understand how high-performance glass solutions are shaping modern infrastructure and architectural design.

Entrepreneurial insight

One of the most inspiring and defining aspects of this visit was the entrepreneurial journey of the promoters behind both organisations. Saifee Jani and Amrut S Gada share a remarkably similar foundation — both began their professional journeys with strong roots in trading.

Coming from trading backgrounds in paper and glass, respectively, they have developed a deep understanding of market dynamics, customer needs, and supply chain intricacies. Rather than remaining within the conventional scope of trading, both leaders identified the long-term potential of backward integration.

With clear vision, strategic thinking, and unwavering determination, they transitioned into manufacturing. Over time, their efforts have culminated in the establishment of world-class facilities that reflect not just scale but also excellence in quality and operations.

Their journeys serve as powerful examples for the trading community, demonstrating that with the right mindset, domain knowledge, and risk-taking ability, it is possible to evolve beyond traditional roles and create significant value within the industry. This shared trajectory added a deeper dimension to the visit, making it not just informative but truly inspirational for all members.

Learning outcomes

Overall, the visit proved to be highly enriching. Members gained practical insights that go beyond theoretical understanding—observing real-time operations, interacting directly with industry leaders, and understanding the nuances of manufacturing ecosystems.

Equally valuable was the opportunity for networking and bonding among members. Informal interactions during the visit enabled participants to exchange ideas, discuss challenges, and explore potential collaborations. Such engagement strengthens the association and fosters a more connected business community.

The feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with members appreciating both the relevance of the visits and the seamless organisation of the program. Many have expressed a keen interest in participating in similar initiatives in the future.

As PTA Mumbai continues to take progressive steps under its current leadership, initiatives like these reinforce the association’s commitment to member development and industry engagement. The success of this visit sets a strong precedent for future programs that are even more diverse and impactful.

Members are encouraged to share their feedback and suggestions, which will play a vital role in enhancing the quality and effectiveness of future initiatives.

Now our systems are enabled with DRS software

Rahul Kumar — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:05:00

Rahul Kumar (RK): How do you view the Goa Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS) and its impact on the printing and packaging industry, particularly in terms of serialised QR code printing and traceability?

Dinesh Thakur (DT): This move is really beneficial to the entire ecosystem as it will not only provide the complete traceability but will promote sustainability during the life cycle of the product.

RK: What printing technologies and solutions are best suited for producing high-quality, durable QR codes required under the DRS framework on bottles, labels, or packaging substrates?

DT: Initially, it is QR code-based. This technology and adaptability have been incorporated into the system and are being used widely in pharma, tax stamps (liquor), etc. Kridwinn specialises in providing high-quality and high-speed industrial inkjet printing systems based on actual customer requirements and is ready to fit in this application.

RK: How does your equipment ensure consistent print quality, readability, and durability of QR codes throughout the product lifecycle?

DT: We provide end-to-end solutions to our customers and provide high-quality up to 1,200-dpi resolutions at speeds over 200-m/min, Our inks usage in systems are highly durable, consistent colour quality, great light fastness and perfect adhesion on almost all product label substrates, which makes it suitable for all products packaging in the market.

RK: How do your systems integrate with serialisation software and the DRS platform for generating and managing unique serialised identifiers (USIs) at high production speeds?

DT: With DRS, now our systems are enabled with DRS software for printing and after print traceability, we have worked with DRS team on the same and have already implemented it on our customer site on our systems. All our current customers are now enabled to take on this project, and any new customers can be delivered solutions with DRS-enabled software integration.

RK: What role do inspection and verification systems play in ensuring QR code accuracy and compliance, and how do you address issues such as unreadable or misprinted codes?

DT: QR codes have been used in Industry for a very long time now in mass production, as QR codes are quick response codes, and the systems we supply with high quality and speed, there is rare chance of readability issues, though each product label will be passed through inspection systems before dispatch. So, there is almost no chance any product in the market would have these issues.

RK: What are the key challenges beverage manufacturers and converters face when implementing DRS-compliant printing?

DT: Every new workflow and system comes with its own initial challenges, but they are more towards execution, not performance and as far as DRS implementation, it has come at a very good time when many of the printers and manufacturers are ready with a solution, and the DRS-enabled software implementation in our systems has made it easier than ever. Even if there is any challenge, our team is fully capable of executing the project in cooperation with printers/customers, where we can guide them through any challenge they face.

RK: What kind of investments or operational adjustments should manufacturers expect when adopting DRS-enabled printing and serialisation solutions?

DT: As mentioned above, printers who own our systems can start the production from day one of the project, almost at no investment, and new customers/printers will have to get the variable data printing systems with DRS-enabled software.

DT: Do you see similar deposit-return or serialisation-driven regulations emerging in other parts of India?

DT: This is a pilot project starting from Goa on selected products. As it grows and becomes successful, it will surely be expanded into other parts of the country and a broader list of products.

For QR codes, we have integrated VDP into our production lines

Rahul Kumar — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:00:00

RK: How do you see the Goa Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS) impacting packaging and label printing requirements for beverage brands and converters?

Preeti Mishra (PM): The Goa DRS is a significant step toward structured recycling and circular packaging. It is driving a clear shift from conventional labels to data-enabled packaging, where each unit must carry a unique, scannable identity. For converters, this translates into increased demand for variable data printing, serialised QR codes, and high-precision printing capabilities. Additionally, there is a growing need for tamper-evident and durable labels that can withstand the entire supply chain and reverse logistics cycle.

RK: What changes have been required in your printing processes or production lines to accommodate serialised QR codes under the DRS framework?

PM: To accommodate serialised QR codes, we have integrated variable data printing (VDP) systems into our production lines. This includes synchronisation of printing presses with real-time data generation software; implementation of high-resolution digital/UV flexo printing to ensure clarity of QR codes; installation of inline inspection systems for code verification and rejection of faulty prints; and enhanced workflow management to handle large-scale unique code generation without duplication.

RK: What are the key challenges in printing small, high-quality QR codes that remain readable throughout the product lifecycle?

PM: The key challenges include maintaining print resolution and contrast at very small sizes; ensuring ink durability and adhesion, especially in conditions involving moisture, friction, or temperature variation; preventing distortion on curved or flexible surfaces (like PET bottles); avoiding code damage during handling, logistics, and storage; balancing aesthetic design with scannability, especially for premium brands and consistency across high volumes while maintaining scan reliability is the most critical challenge.

RK: How important are serialisation software, data management, and inspection systems in ensuring compliance with the DRS requirements?

PM: These elements are absolutely critical. Serialisation is not just about printing a QR code — it is about ensuring traceability, uniqueness, and data integrity. Serialisation software ensures unique code generation and mapping. Data management systems handle storage, tracking, and integration with brand or regulatory platforms. Inspection systems ensure every code printed is readable and compliant. Without a robust digital backbone, compliance with DRS would not be feasible at scale.

RK: Has the implementation of DRS led to new investments in printing, coding, or inspection technologies at your facility?

PM: Yes, the DRS framework has accelerated investments in advanced variable data printing technologies, high-speed inspection and verification systems, software infrastructure for serialisation and data handling and upgradation of existing presses to support higher precision and consistency.

These investments are essential not only for compliance but also to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving packaging landscape.

RK: Do you believe similar deposit return schemes could be implemented in other Indian states?

PM: Yes, it is highly likely that DRS frameworks will expand to other states as sustainability regulations strengthen across India. While leading converters and organised players are progressively building capabilities in serialisation and smart packaging, a large portion of the industry will need to upgrade technology, processes, and digital infrastructure to be fully prepared. This transition presents both a challenge and an opportunity — those who invest early in traceability and intelligent packaging solutions will be best positioned to lead.

Inkjet is most suitable for high-quality variable data printing

Rahul Kumar — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:57:00

RK: How do you view the Goa Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS) and its impact on the printing and packaging industry, particularly in terms of serialised QR code printing and traceability?

Neeraj Sharrma (NS): We really appreciate such steps taken by any of the state governments for our environmental safety and sustainability of our ecosystem, by encouraging end consumers to help in the waste management. Adding a QR code on the packaging of the goods will help not in anti-counterfeiting of the products but also be useful in traceability of the products from manufacturer to end user consumer, and further collection of the used pack and recycling of the waste.

RK: What printing technologies and solutions are best suited for producing high-quality, durable QR codes required under the DRS framework on bottles, labels, or packaging substrates?

NS: For printing VDP, a high-quality QR code is required. Considering all the available printing technologies, inkjet printing will be the best-suited one. Due to high print resolution at higher speed, with the ink which can print on different substrates like chromo, filmic or non-filmic, porous or non-porous etc. It depends upon the packaging requirements.

RK: How does your equipment ensure consistent print quality, readability, and durability of QR codes throughout the product lifecycle?

NS: We have a DOD UV inkjet printing system which can print at a desirable print resolution of 600x600-dpi (meeting DRS project requirement of printing QR code) by using UV inks which are compatible for printing on different substrates, with long-lasting life, meeting product life cycle.

RK: How do your systems integrate with serialisation software and the DRS platform for generating and managing unique serialised identifiers (USIs) at high production speeds?

NS: Our VDP inkjet system is fully equipped/compatible with software for managing and printing DRS project QR code with USI or other variable data as required in terms of print resolutions, and speed depends upon where we have to install the system — inline with the printing presses or offline on converting/slitting machines.

RK: What role do inspection and verification systems play in ensuring QR code accuracy and compliance, and how do you address issues such as unreadable or misprinted codes?

NS: Camera inspection/vision systems ensure that whatever the input data file given to the variable data printing system for printing the VD, is 100% correct in the sense of scanning of the QR code, misprint or non-printing of any data due to any of the reasons, etc. With the software, we can generate a report file showing how many codes we inspected for a particular job, how many get rejected or duplicate in case if any etc so we can maintain our database as well.

RK: What are the key challenges beverage manufacturers and converters face when implementing DRS-compliant printing, and how can they prepare their existing production lines for the transition?

NS: Adding new features like QR codes on their existing packaging could be a possibility of some changes in their base design of the packaging for making a space for printing VDP, loss of production outcome due to the addition of some additional operations like data management for VDP printing, inspection and correction, if any.

RK: What kind of investments or operational adjustments should manufacturers expect when adopting DRS-enabled printing and serialisation solutions?

NS: Investment for adding VDP depends upon the number of print heads required to be added for printing VDP (depends upon the printing width and number of labels across the web width, installing the system inline on the printing machines or offline on the converting line, number of systems depends on the production volume, etc. So, there are many factors.

RK: Do you see similar deposit-return or serialisation-driven regulations emerging in other parts of India?

NS: As far as my knowledge, the similar project done at Char Dham Religious Places in Uttarakhand and was well-acknowledged by the consumers and the central government as well, encouraging similar projects in other parts of India, for promoting recycling of the waste, not only for maintaining our ecosystem but also reproduction of different products using recycled waste material, to bring down the production cost. The printing industry is already in the business of printing such QR codes or special codes on the packaging used for authentication and traceability of the products in the supply chain management, especially in the FMCG sector.

Recykal's platform manages the complete lifecycle of a DRS product

Rahul Kumar — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:51:00

Rahul Kumar (RK): What role does Recykal play in enabling the digital infrastructure for the Goa Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS), particularly in terms of QR code generation, serialisation, and traceability?

Vikram Prabakar (VP): As the appointed scheme operator for Goa's DRS, Recykal manages the scheme's digital infrastructure, including generating and managing unique serialised QR codes for participating brands. Each QR code carries embedded product information SKU details and deposit value, enabling end-to-end traceability and verification of every packaging. Under the ambit of the scheme, Recykal is responsible for QR generation, serialisation, and allocation, ensuring full traceability across the DRS ecosystem.

RK: How does the technology platform manage the lifecycle of the packaging from QR code creation and packaging integration to consumer scanning and recycling verification?

VP: Recykal's platform manages the complete lifecycle of a DRS product, whether beverages or other products through a secure, QR-based system spanning stages:

QR Generation: Once a SKU is registered, brands can instantly generate unique serialised QR codes (USIs) as per their requirement through the brand portal, accessible via email-based login. Each QR embeds key product metadata like manufacturer, bottling facility, SKU data etc. A deposit value is attached to every QR code at the time of its generation, ensuring each container in the market carries a defined deposit liability from the outset.

Packaging integration: The QR is printed on labels or stickers at the packaging converter or online at bottling facilities using variable data printers (digital, TTO, or laser) which are integrated with the DRS software.

Consumer return and verification: When a consumer returns the container at an RVM or manual collection centre, the QR is scanned and validated against the central system for authenticity, deposit eligibility, and redemption status. If valid, the deposit refund is instantly processed via UPI or cash, and the USI is marked as redeemed to prevent duplicate claims.

Real-time data flow: Every scan and redemption event syncs back to the DRS platform, enabling real-time reconciliation of deposits, refunds, and material recovery.

RK: What kind of data management and backend architecture is required to handle millions of unique QR codes while ensuring accuracy, security, and real-time tracking?

VP: Recykal's backend architecture is built for massive scale, security, and real-time traceability, resting on three core pillars:

Scalable cloud infrastructure: The QR generation engine is hosted on AWS and capable of generating up to 1 crore QR codes per minute with 1,000 concurrent users. It supports thousands of simultaneous printers and features auto-scaling to dynamically adjust resources during peak loads, ensuring uninterrupted performance.

Security and uniqueness safeguards: Every USI (unique scheme identifier) is protected by cryptographic encryption, preventing reverse-engineering or forgery; collision-free logic, hashing and collision-detection ensuring no two QR codes are ever duplicated and tamper and counterfeit detection, where each QR code is uniquely tracked. Once the associated deposit is redeemed, the QR status changes to “retired,” enabling the system to detect tampered or duplicated codes during subsequent scans.

Audit trail and irrefutability: Every USI event is permanently logged with a timestamp, originating facility, and user details, creating a full, irrefutable audit trail. Once generated, a USI's origin and validity cannot be disputed, making it legally defensible in compliance checks.

Together, these controls ensure accurate deposit tracking, fraud prevention, and counterfeit protection across the entire DRS ecosystem.

RK: How does the Recykal platform integrate with stakeholders across the ecosystem, including beverage brands, printers/converters, retailers, reverse vending machines, and recyclers?

VP: Recykal's platform integrates with every stakeholder in the DRS ecosystem through a unified, cloud-based infrastructure:

Brands: Brands generate unique serialised QR codes on demand through the brand portal (accessible via email-based login), using Recykal's secure, cloud-hosted cryptographic engine. These QR codes are then securely transmitted to integrated printers at label converters or bottling facilities, ensuring each code is unique and printed only once. The platform offers open access to any printer at the brand or facility that can connect with the scheme operator to integrate.

Printers and packaging converters: Printer OEMs at the label converters and brands integrate their variable-data printers (digital, TTO, TIJ or laser) with the DRS software. The system streams serialised QR codes in real time for both pre-printing and online printing, logging every printed code to maintain batch-level traceability.

Retailers and return infrastructure: Retailers and return points connect via collection applications or RVMs. On container return, the QR is scanned and validated against the central database for authenticity, activation status, and deposit eligibility — triggering the refund instantly upon successful verification.

RK: What are the biggest challenges in implementing a digital deposit refund system in India, and how can technology help ensure transparency, fraud prevention, and efficient recycling outcomes?

VP: Implementing a digital Deposit Refund System in India presents several challenges — but technology-led infrastructure can effectively address each one:

Supply chain scale and complexity: India's beverage market spans thousands of brands and bottling facilities with diverse packaging formats. Integrating QR marking into high-speed production lines without disrupting manufacturing requires a centralised platform supporting high-volume QR generation, serialisation, and direct printer integration.

Stakeholder coordination: A DRS involves brands, converters, retailers, collection centres, and recyclers. A unified digital platform with real-time dashboards and data visibility ensures smooth coordination and operational transparency across all stakeholders.

Fraud prevention: Risks include duplicate QR codes, unauthorised claims, and multiple redemptions. These are mitigated through cryptographic serialization, encryption, geofenced applications, and real-time validation — ensuring each QR is redeemable only once, backed by a full audit trail.

Deposit reconciliation: Managing deposit flows across millions of containers is complex. Digital platforms link each QR to its deposit value and track its lifecycle, enabling accurate reconciliation and preventing financial leakage.

Collection infrastructure and consumer convenience: High return rates depend on accessible return channels. Integration with RVMs, mobile collection apps, and digital payment systems (UPI/cash) enables instant container validation and quick refund processing.

Recycling verification and traceability: Ensuring collected containers are actually recycled requires end-to-end tracking. The platform traces containers from production through redemption to recyclers, generating reliable material recovery data for regulators.

RK: Do you see digital DRS platforms becoming a national model for waste management and circular economy initiatives in India, and how is Recykal preparing for large-scale adoption?

VP: Yes, digital DRS platforms have strong potential to become a national model for waste management and circular economy initiatives in India. With growing regulatory focus on traceability under frameworks like the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 and the expansion of deposit-based recovery systems like the Goa DRS, a digital QR-based infrastructure offers the transparency and scalability needed to manage post-consumer packaging at a national scale.

A digital DRS creates end-to-end traceability — from QR serialisation at production to consumer returns and recycling verification — ensuring every container placed in the market is accounted for. This enables accurate recovery rate tracking, prevents deposit leakage, and generates reliable data for regulators and producers alike. As India advances toward a circular economy, such systems can serve as the backbone for monitoring material flows across multiple product categories and states.

As for large-scale adoption, Recykal is implementing India’s first digital Deposit Refund Scheme and has already built a comprehensive ecosystem to support brands in seamlessly integrating into the DRS framework, ranging from QR-based lifecycle management and packaging integration to collection infrastructure and recycling verification. This positions Recykal as a benchmark for future DRS rollouts across states and product categories in India.

The secret to India's remarkably resilient print, packaging, and publishing fraternity — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 22:22:00

In a manufacturing sector defined by intense price compression and rapid technological obsolescence, India’s print, packaging, and publishing (P&P&P) leaders are looking beyond simple output metrics to define operational excellence. A survey of 141 P&P&P by PrintWeek reveals that the most admired factories are not merely high-volume units but integrated ecosystems that serve as benchmarks for systemisation, advanced automation, and an unshakeable corporate culture.

What is increasingly evident, however, is a deeper shift in how these leaders define excellence. Across responses, there is a clear move away from machine-led thinking to process-led manufacturing. The modern factory is no longer defined by the press it owns, but by the systems that run it, the data that informs it, and the discipline that sustains it.

The Survey also reflects how this shift is being interpreted across the industry. There is a growing emphasis on building systems early, embedding automation from the outset, and reducing dependency on individuals. For many, the modern factory is not something to evolve into, but something to design with intent from the beginning.

The list of admired facilities is led by packaging and printing conglomerates like ITC, alongside specialist players such as Srinivas Fine Arts and Pragati Offset and Multivista. Crucially, it also features a diverse array of non-P&P&P firms, ranging from the rigorous discipline of the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors to the massive scale of the oil and gas industry. This suggests that the modern CEO increasingly cross-pollinates best practices from across the manufacturing landscape.

Integrated benchmark

At the top of the list of admired facilities, mentioned by multiple leaders in the PrintWeek Survey, is ITC. The company is referenced for its comprehensive approach to manufacturing, including its core business and specific units such as the ITC Bhadrachalam factory and ITC's Packaging and Printing Business in Tiruvottiyur and Chennai.

Many participants said the Chennai unit has “set a high benchmark in terms of technology integration, sustainability practices, and quality standards,” encapsulating the triple mandate of modern manufacturing leadership: technology, ESG, and quality.

What emerges alongside this admiration is a growing aspiration to replicate not just scale, but integration. Leaders repeatedly emphasise end-to-end workflows, where pre-press, press, and post-press are synchronised through systems rather than manual intervention. The idea of “end-to-end workflow” and “process discipline” appears frequently, indicating that integration today is as much digital as it is physical.

There is also a clear focus on building end-to-end visibility through MIS, ERP, and data-driven planning tools. The emphasis is on creating a foundation where estimation, planning, and execution are tightly aligned through systems, rather than relying on individual intervention.

The recurring mention of ITC highlights a desire among P&P leaders to emulate the integration and scale demonstrated by large, diversified corporations.

Precision and niche

While scale is impressive, many industry leaders admire facilities that have achieved mastery in a niche or demonstrated operational precision within a defined scope.

Srinivas Fine Arts in Sivakasi receives multiple commendations for its dedication to infrastructure and niche creation. Innumerable persons describe it as having the “best infrastructure a printer can dream of,” underscoring the value placed on physical plant design and planning. Similarly, some said the company has “carved a niche for themselves”.

Another key segment is advanced packaging, where converters like TCPL Packaging, Parksons Packaging, and Vijayshri Packaging are celebrated for their modern, greenfield projects. Also, Parksons Packaging’s plant in Punjab is described as “simply spectacular”.

There is a nod to all the new plants like Yamir Packaging, Canpac Trends, and TCPL Packaging which are described as “fantastic with a vision of the next 20 to 25 years,” suggesting that a forward-looking design that anticipates technological and ESG needs is a critical element of admiration.

The operational rigour of Pragati Offset is also highly regarded. Many appreciate Pragati Offset’s “approach towards new technology,” confirming that the admired companies are those that consistently upgrade and innovate their core capabilities.

What distinguishes these specialist players is not just equipment, but control. There is a growing emphasis on colour science, substrate behaviour, and repeatability. Leaders speak of maintaining tight Delta-E tolerances, locking ink densities, and standardising processes upstream rather than correcting errors on press. This reflects a maturing industry where precision is engineered, not inspected.

This precision is increasingly approached with a blend of technology and judgement. Respondents highlight the importance of spectrophotometers, standard lighting conditions, and substrate-led profiling, while also acknowledging the continued role of human intervention in achieving consistent output. There is also a growing interest in material experimentation, from mono-material films to speciality papers, reflecting a shift towards value-added applications.

Learning outside print

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the leaders’ selection is the profound appreciation for operational discipline and automation perfected in adjacent, often high-stakes, industries. This cross-sector admiration indicates that P&P&P leaders view their core business challenges such as efficiency, cost control, and quality as solvable through lessons learned elsewhere.

Instead of categorising them, many leaders point to factories outside the print sector as benchmarks for discipline and execution. Automotive plants such as Honda’s Greater Noida facility are cited for their culture of efficiency and respect, while engineering-led units like Amaron are recognised for their system-oriented approach.

Pharmaceutical facilities, particularly Cipla’s plants, are admired for their automation, compliance, and rigorous quality systems. In some cases, print factories themselves are benchmarked against pharma shopfloors, reflecting the elevated expectations around cleanliness and process control.

Even food and FMCG operations, from Amul’s dairy plants to Milky Mist and Chitale Bandhu, are referenced for their ability to combine scale with automation, often in environments traditionally seen as manual.

These non-P&P&P examples serve as aspirational models for efficiency and systemisation.

A key takeaway shared by one participant from Kolkata, from a visit to a factory in China, was the extent of automation. Only ten people were on the floor managing the complete operation.

What is new, however, is how Indian print leaders are internalising these lessons. Automation is no longer viewed as a cost-saving measure alone, but as a strategic necessity to reduce variability, improve consistency, and enable scale without proportional increases in manpower. Investments in AI-driven systems, predictive maintenance, and real-time data capture reflect a mindset where automation is embedded into the DNA of the factory rather than added incrementally.

Beyond the factory

The criteria for admiration are shifting. While massive scale remains a marvel, the underlying themes are increasingly centred on sustainability, systems thinking, and human capital management.

Many participants were impressed by Lovely Offset's focus on recycling and environment friendliness and Multivista's adherence to exacting EcoVadis standards, while others cited Avery Dennison’s commitment to “innovation, quality, and sustainability”.

Yet sustainability itself is being redefined. Rather than being limited to material substitution, it is increasingly understood as efficiency. This includes reducing waste, minimising rework, optimising grammage, and designing processes that do more with less.

This thinking is reflected consistently across responses, where sustainability is framed as responsible decision-making at every stage of production, balancing environmental impact with commercial viability. The emphasis is on building systems that reduce waste at source rather than relying solely on downstream solutions.

Equally, there is a noticeable cultural shift. Leaders are placing greater emphasis on accountability, transparency, and respect for process. Deal-breakers cited include compromising on quality, ignoring systems, and failing to honour commitments. This reflects an industry that is becoming less tolerant of operational ambiguity and more focused on disciplined execution.

In parallel, there is a growing confidence in India’s global positioning. Several leaders reference the ability to match international quality standards while maintaining competitive pricing, alongside ambitions to build export-ready, globally benchmarked facilities.

Taken together, the perspectives suggest a convergence in thinking. Across the board, there is alignment on one fundamental shift. Competitive advantage in print manufacturing is moving away from machinery and towards systems, discipline, and the ability to execute consistently.

In conclusion, the factories admired in PrintWeek's Survey are not just places of production. They are strategic assets designed for long-term resilience. The highest praise is reserved for facilities that have successfully layered cutting-edge automation over robust, disciplined internal systems, while simultaneously committing to high benchmarks for quality and sustainability. For India’s print, packaging, and publishing leaders, the factory floor is no longer just about meeting deadlines. It is the ultimate expression of corporate strategy and a testament to enduring operational integrity.

From logo to legacy: Why packaging is India’s most overlooked growth lever

Noel D'Cunha — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:04:00

In a retail aisle or on a quick commerce app, a product lives or dies in seconds. The consumer scrolls, pauses, glances, and either engages or moves on. In that fleeting interaction, it is not the advertising budget or manufacturing excellence that leads the conversation. It is packaging that frames perception, signals value, and initiates trust long before the product is experienced.

This idea anchors Logo to Legacy, authored by Anoop Venugopalan, managing director of Anaswara Offset, and the first title from Arundhati Books, a publishing venture founded by his father, O Venugopalan. The book reads less like a design manual and more like a strategic playbook, arguing that packaging sits at the centre of brand growth, pricing power, and long-term differentiation.

Venugopalan’s central provocation is clear. Indian manufacturing has scaled, but packaging thinking has not kept pace. “In India, we look at packaging as just a functional tool,” he explains, “and not as a marketing tool or an emotional influencer tool.” The consequence is a marketplace where value is created in production but lost at the point of purchase.

Packaging, perception, and the price trap

Venugopalan, a print technocrat (BTech) from MIT, Manipal, traces his understanding of packaging back to his early work in pre-press and colour management in 2007. What began as a technical pursuit soon revealed a deeper truth about brand recall and consumer behaviour. Colour consistency, he notes, is not just about print accuracy but about building subconscious familiarity with the consumer.

This insight expanded during his exposure to global marketing. He began to see how buying decisions are shaped not only by product attributes but by perception and emotional triggers. Packaging, in this context, becomes the first and most immediate interface between brand and consumer.

Yet, many Indian brands undermine this interface. They invest heavily in creating quality products but fail to generate interest on the shelf. “Why would anyone buy or take an interest in knowing your product in the first place?” Venugopalan asks. The answer often lies in packaging that lacks differentiation and clarity.

The result is predictable. Brands converge into visual sameness and compete on price. Venugopalan points out that when positioning is weak, commoditisation follows quickly. Consumers, unable to distinguish between offerings, default to the lowest price, eroding margins and long-term value.

He draws a comparison with the airline industry, where identical journeys are segmented into differentiated experiences. Packaging, he suggests, can similarly elevate perception and justify premium pricing when aligned with strategy and positioning.

The science of attention and engagement

One of the more structured frameworks in Logo to Legacy is the ‘seven-second rule’ which is built in with the Light Green Packaging Framework. Venugopalan explains that consumers process packaging in a sequence, beginning with shape and size, followed by colour, then numerical cues, and finally text. If a product fails to capture attention in this initial phase, it rarely enters consideration.

“Imagine you’re entering a supermarket or scrolling on a quick commerce app,” he says. “There is a sequence your eye understands and tracks.” This sequence is rooted in how the brain filters visual information, prioritising cues that signal relevance and value.

Once attention is secured, the packaging must transition into engagement. Venugopalan describes this as the stage where trust is built through what he calls the ‘six panels of real estate’. Here, the consumer looks for validation, reassurance, and clarity about the product’s promise.

“All the questions running through their mind have to be answered,” he explains, emphasising that packaging must communicate effectively across both physical and digital retail environments. When this process works, packaging not only attracts but converts and retains.

Small shifts, disproportionate gains

A notable strength of the book lies in its practical examples, where seemingly minor packaging changes produce significant commercial impact. Venugopalan recalls a case where reducing pack size led to a doubling of sales by enabling what he describes as guiltless consumption.

The intervention was not driven by cost but by insight into consumer psychology. By lowering the perceived barrier to consumption, the brand increased the frequency of purchase. It is a reminder that packaging decisions often influence behaviour more than pricing strategies.

Similarly, the emphasis on the unboxing experience reflects changing consumer expectations. Features such as tamper-proofing, ease of opening, and material reduction are no longer operational details. They shape perception and create a sense of participation in the brand experience.

“Less is more,” Venugopalan notes, adding that simplicity and clarity often outperform excess. In a crowded market, restraint can be a powerful differentiator.

The silent salesman in global markets

For exporters, packaging carries an additional burden. It must comply with regulations while also communicating a compelling brand story to consumers who may have no prior exposure to the product. In such contexts, packaging becomes the primary vehicle for building trust.

“Packaging is your silent salesman,” Venugopalan says. “It is communicating a language that the right customer has to feel and understand.” This communication begins before the product is purchased and continues through the consumption experience.

He emphasises that storytelling is central to this process. A coherent and believable narrative can persuade retailers to stock the product and consumers to try it. Without this narrative, even high-quality products struggle to gain traction in competitive international markets.

For Indian brands aspiring to scale globally, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Packaging, when executed well, can accelerate acceptance and build credibility far more quickly than traditional marketing alone.

From cost centre to growth strategy

A structural issue Venugopalan identifies is the fragmented approach to packaging within organisations. Decisions are often distributed across functions such as R&D, marketing, procurement, and quality control, each with its own priorities and constraints.

“Currently, packaging is decided in silos,” he explains, noting that this leads to compromises that weaken the final outcome. To move towards a ‘logo to legacy’ mindset, companies must adopt a more integrated approach where packaging is aligned with the overall business strategy.

This requires a cultural shift. Packaging must be viewed not as a cost to be minimised but as an investment capable of driving revenue and brand equity. When treated strategically, it becomes a unifying element that aligns internal stakeholders around a shared objective.

Venugopalan also highlights the role of digital printing in enabling this shift. By allowing rapid prototyping and experimentation, it reduces the risk associated with innovation and empowers brands to test and refine their packaging strategies.

Building legacy in an experiential world

Venugopalan sees packaging evolving into an experiential medium that goes beyond protection and presentation. In an increasingly digital marketplace, it remains one of the few tangible touchpoints between brand and consumer.

“Packaging is becoming more of an experience rather than just a protective tool,” he says. This shift reflects changing consumer expectations, where convenience, aesthetics, sustainability, and emotional engagement must coexist within a single solution.

He argues that brands which deliver on their promise through both product and packaging will be better positioned to sustain growth. Packaging, in this sense, becomes a bridge between expectation and experience, reinforcing trust and loyalty.

The message of Logo to Legacy is ultimately about mindset. “A logo may get you noticed,” Venugopalan says, “but it won’t build a brand.” The real driver of long-term value lies in how that brand is experienced, and packaging is central to that experience.

In a market defined by noise and choice, it is packaging that shapes perception. And as Venugopalan makes clear, perception is what drives growth, pricing power, and, ultimately, legacy.

Digital Print Awards: Celebrate the unsung print superstars — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:15:00

In a print shop tucked away in Mhapan (in picturesque Konkan), a four-page photobook is produced overnight for a local wedding. The job is short-run, highly personalised and delivered within hours. There is no surrounding noise, no industry recognition, and no case-study written about it. Yet, this is the kind of work that is redefining print in India, quite quietly.

Across the country, thousands of such jobs are executed every day on compact digital presses. These are not large-format installations or high-volume offset lines. They are nimble, responsive setups handling urgent, customised work for local businesses, schools, publishers and entrepreneurs. According to industry estimates, roughly 2,700 such machines operate in this segment, most outside metro markets.

What binds these businesses is not their size, but their ability to respond. A school needs certificates for 325 students. A local brand wants a short run of personalised labels. A publisher requires 50 copies of a title for a book launch. These are no longer exceptions. They are becoming the norm.

And yet, they remain largely invisible.

During a curtain-raiser for the Digital Print Awards held on 20 March 2026, top digital print equipment suppliers gathered to discuss how they could support a new industry initiative and encourage participation from their customer base. Ajay Aggarwal of Insight Communication, Ajay Raorane of Domino India, Akshay Kaushal of Provin Technos, Gurjeet Dhingra of Canon India, Manish Gupta of Konica Minolta, Puneet Chadha of Redington India, Rishabh Kohli of TPH, Rohan Kulkarni of Kodak India, Shamim Alam of HP Indigo, TP Jain of Monotech, Umesh Kagade of HP Indigo, and Vimal Parmar, a digital print specialist, attended the meeting. Koji Miyao of Ricoh and Priyatosh Kumar of Fujifilm sought leave of absence. The conversation alluded to a telescopic lens. The next phase of growth in digital print will not be led by metros alone, but print hubs and entrepreneurial print businesses across Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and ziilas and talukas.

“The industry has traditionally celebrated scale and volume,” says Ramu Ramanathan, editor of PrintWeek and WhatPackaging?. “But there is a significant segment of digital print firms who are doing smart, efficient, and innovative work without ever being recognised.” He adds, “Think of cricket. If the PrintWeek Awards are the World Cup for cricket, the digital print firms are like the IPL. Lots of new superstars, lots of unsung print stars. Lots of new talent, lots of new work. That is what we want to recognise here.”

The skewed view is not just about Awards. It is about perception. Larger companies are often assumed to be more reliable and resilient. Boutique digital firms, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, are rarely seen as leaders, even when their work suggests otherwise.

A market shifting beneath the surface

This disconnect comes at a time when digital printing is no longer a niche capability. It is increasingly central to how print businesses grow and differentiate.

The Indian digital print market is estimated at over USD 1.4-billion and is projected to expand significantly in the coming years, driven by shorter runs, faster turnaround expectations and the rise of personalisation and print-on-demand models. These are structural shifts reshaping how print is produced and consumed.

In many ways, the firms which are nimble and entrepreneurial are closest to these changes. They operate in environments where flexibility is essential, and customer expectations are always ASAP. Even a few minutes' delay can mean losing a job. A misprint can mean a roast on Insta or Facebook. This proximity has forced these businesses to become super-efficient. Files are pre-flighted quickly. Jobs are queued intelligently. Substrate and finishing choices are made with both speed and Blinkit's level turnaround times.

Ramanathan notes that this is where the industry needs to recalibrate and rethink. “These are companies that have altered the business model. Their organisational structure is different. There is much to learn from them." He added, "We need to democratise print knowledge. We need to deploy the Digital Print Awards and unleash print intelligence and flatten the industry organisation by breaking down silos."

There is also a shift in the nature of customers. Regional brands and local entrepreneurs increasingly rely on digital print for speed and customisation. This creates a cycle of continuous experimentation and improvement.

Ramanathan said, We need to understand that the industry is K-shaped, with the traditional business shrinking while the digital print sector grows rapidly.

If you are proud of a digital print job that required thought, precision and problem-solving, it deserves to be seen. The Digital Print Awards provide that stage.

Democratise print, reward execution

The Digital Print Awards have been conceived as a response to this gap. The idea is simple. Create a nationwide platform where work is judged not by company size, but by how intelligently the job has been produced.

“The aim is to democratise print,” says Ramanathan. “We are looking at digital print as a change driver. We want to recognise digital print as the most likely champion for driving print adoption and transformation through efficiency and innovation.”

The Awards span categories such as photobooks, labels, personalisation, print-on-demand books, marketing collateral and finishing. Each is rooted in real-world, real-time applications rather than 20th-century legacy benchmarks.

What sets this initiative apart is the depth of evaluation. The jury will not only assess the printed output but also the process behind it. How the job was prepared. What challenges were addressed? How workflow decisions influenced the outcome.

The point is, we want to validate every print sample. The Awards' core function is to be the independent validator and arbitrator for digital print, and create a tech-book that documents the work.

This reflects a core reality of digital print. The final output is only one part of the story. The real value lies in how efficiently the job was executed.

A short-run label job completed under pressure may involve multiple variables, from colour consistency to substrate compatibility. A photobook produced on demand may require careful file handling and sequencing. These are the details that define quality but often go unnoticed.

By bringing these elements into focus, the awards aim to highlight a different kind of excellence. One rooted in problem-solving and technical understanding.

There is also a commercial dimension. Recognition at a national level can help reposition these businesses in the eyes of their customers, supporting better pricing conversations and long-term growth.

Ramanathan said, "We hope to achieve all this through the spirit of cooperation. The most significant industry challenge has been the inability of people to work together. We hope to break down these barriers because this is essential for matrix success.

Built for you, not built to intimidate

For many niche print businesses, the biggest barrier to entering awards is complexity. Lengthy, cumbersome forms, multiple samples and detailed documentation can feel daunting and intimidating. The newly designed Digital Print Awards addresses this.

“The idea was to remove fear,” says Rohit Nair, national head of marketing at PrintWeek and WhatPackaging?. “We know most digital print promoters are the heads of busy operations. So, the entry process has been kept as simple as possible.”

Participants need to submit a single physical sample along with a 300 to 500-word note explaining the workflow and business impact. The emphasis is on clarity, not jargon.

A submission portal simplifies the process, allowing users to upload and track entries easily. The goal is to make participation as straightforward as completing a job.

To ensure fairness, all entries will be anonymised before judging. This removes any potential bias and keeps the focus on technical merit and execution. The categories are aligned with the kind of work these businesses already produce. In many cases, the best entry will be a recent job that delivered value to a customer.

Nair adds that outreach is being tailored for accessibility. “We are developing toolkits with WhatsApp-friendly assets and multilingual content so that printers across regions can participate without difficulty.” The intent is to remove both practical and linguistic barriers.

From one entry to national recognition

The structure of the Awards is designed to ensure both reach and relevance. There are 12 categories, with winners selected across four zones to ensure national representation. Entries opened on 20 March, with submissions closing on 25 April. Jury sessions will take place in early May, followed by the Awards presentation in mid-June.

Beyond the Awards, the initiative extends into a year-round engagement platform. Webinars, category-led discussions and editorial coverage will continue to spotlight winners and shortlisted firms. Selected entries will be developed into case studies, extending their reach to brands and industry stakeholders.

“This is not just about one event,” says Nair. “It is about creating sustained visibility for digital print businesses and building a community around shared learning.”

Nair signs off, "The main goal is to celebrate great work and establish SOPs for the Indian digital print fraternity."

If you are proud of a digital print job that required thought, precision and problem-solving, it deserves to be seen. The Digital Print Awards provide that stage.

Specialisation is not a choice — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 07:50:00

Pulkit Chhaparia does not romanticise entrepreneurship. When he addresses the audience at Print and Beyond 2025, he speaks less like a keynote speaker and more like someone reconstructing a set of hard-earned lessons.

“I have been in this industry for only 12 years,” he says. “It is not a very long journey.”

Yet in those 12 years, he has built Cambay Foodservices Packaging into a 100 percent export-oriented business supplying the US, UK and EU markets, shipping close to 150 containers every month. It is a first-generation enterprise. His father spent four decades in textiles. Packaging was his own decision, and he admits that in the early years he entered the industry with more enthusiasm than structured understanding.

“I did not see an offset machine three months before I started my business,” he says. “I learned it the hard way.”

That phrase, learned it the hard way, recurs throughout his presentation. It frames his central message. In a de globalising world where tariffs, non tariff barriers, Chinese overcapacity and buyer consolidation are reshaping global trade, Indian packaging companies cannot afford to remain generic. Specialisation, he argues, is no longer a strategic option. It is a structural necessity.

“In exports, there is no other way,” he says. “You cannot be a generic supplier of everything and compete with the best in the world.”

From saying yes to saying no

Cambay did not begin as a specialised exporter. Until 2018, it operated as a domestic industrial packaging producer supplying a variety of segments. Like many growing companies, it responded to opportunity rather than defining a narrow domain. When machinery was acquired under EPCG licences, export obligations followed, and what initially felt like compliance pressure forced the company to look outward.

“I started travelling all over the world in nervousness,” Chhaparia says. “I was asking how to start exporting.”

Those travels became transformative. In analysing global markets, he recognised that certain packaging segments offered stronger alignment between production efficiency and end-use demand. These applications were driven directly by consumption rather than by another manufacturer’s output cycle, allowing greater predictability and operational focus. The ability to standardise at scale and build repeatable systems made the segment structurally attractive. That insight informed the company’s long-term positioning.

From 2018 onwards, Cambay transitioned steadily toward a 100 percent export-oriented model focused exclusively on food service packaging. That shift required turning down work in other categories. It also required confronting earlier mistakes. “I said yes to everything,” he admits. “That was one of my biggest mistakes.”

In the early years, he was obsessed with machines. As an engineer, technology and infrastructure attracted him. He invested heavily in equipment. Turnover grew. But cash flow management lagged. By 2015 and 2016, emergency loans were required to sustain operations. “As a young company, you are obsessed with the top line,” he says. “But turnover is not the only parameter of business success.”

He also realised that trying to replicate established diversified packaging leaders was a strategic error. “You need not run the same race as somebody else,” he says. “You can create your own race.” For Cambay, that race became food service packaging exports.

A global market that is tightening

The export landscape that Cambay now operates in is markedly different from a decade ago. Chhaparia describes it as a market shaped less by cost arbitrage and more by political and structural realignment.

“There are nationalistic right-wing governments across the world,” he says. “Policies are being driven accordingly.”

Tariffs are the visible instruments of protectionism. But he stresses that non tariff barriers often have greater operational impact. Environmental compliance requirements, food contact regulations, documentation standards and sustainability disclosures have tightened significantly in Europe and the United States. Even where free trade agreements exist, exporters must navigate dense regulatory frameworks.

For food service packaging, this includes testing for heavy metals, migration limits and coating disclosures. “Quality is extremely important,” he says. “But more than quality, it is very important to produce goods consistently with the same quality.”

Chinese overcapacity compounds the challenge. “There is immense pressure from Chinese exports,” he says. “In terms of price, in terms of volume.” With significant excess capacity, Chinese suppliers compete aggressively on cost. For Indian converters, competing solely on price is unsustainable.

Meanwhile, the packaging industry globally has undergone consolidation. “Business is shifting to large scale corporations,” Chhaparia says. Mergers and acquisitions have concentrated buying power into fewer hands. Large multinational buyers operate with centralised procurement systems and global quality benchmarks. They expect digital integration and seamless communication. They negotiate hard.

Smaller importers, he notes, have become increasingly risk averse. Many have reduced exposure or exited the market altogether. The result is that exporters increasingly deal with larger, more demanding clients.

Logistics volatility adds further uncertainty. Shipping routes have been disrupted by geopolitical tensions. Freight rates fluctuate. Transit times are less predictable. Working capital planning becomes tighter and more complex. In this environment, he argues, generalists struggle. “When you are specialised, it is not easy to replace you,” he says.

He offers a practical example. During periods of tariff volatility in the United States, Cambay retained most of its clients. “Even if it was 50 percent tariffs, nobody cancelled the orders,” he says. “They paid higher duties and still got the goods from us.”

The reason, he insists, is not price. It is specialisation. The specific product capabilities Cambay developed were not easily substituted.

Operational clarity through focus

For Chhaparia, specialisation is not a branding exercise. It is operational clarity.

“If you are doing pharmaceutical packaging, and along with that food service packaging and tonnes of other things, you are going to end up with different kinds of inventory,” he says. Managing diverse raw materials, coatings and compliance standards across unrelated segments increases complexity and ties up working capital.

“It is unreasonable to demand inventory control without having specialisation,” he adds.

By focusing exclusively on food service packaging, Cambay consolidates raw material procurement. Purchase efficiency improves because volumes are concentrated. Vendor relationships deepen. Suppliers are more willing to invest in proximity and reliability when demand is predictable.

“Developing vendors close by is very important in a de risked world,” he says. “But you can only do that if you have scale.”

Quality systems also benefit from repetition. Producing similar products consistently allows teams to refine process controls and detect deviations early. “Adherence to quality systems comes only when you are doing a particular job repeatedly,” he says.

Automation investments become purposeful rather than speculative. Food service packaging, with its large job sizes, demands specific configurations. Investing in automation tailored to that niche ensures utilisation and return on capital. “If you want to really automate your operations, please find your niche,” he says.

Backward integration follows the same logic. Cambay invested in high end coating lines for barrier applications specific to food contact packaging. Such capital expenditure would not be viable as a side activity.

Depth creates differentiation

Chhaparia also challenges the industry’s use of buzzwords.

“Consultancy led sales is a very good jargon,” he says. “But unless you are absolutely thorough with a particular industry, how are you going to consult somebody who is already in that industry?”

In food service packaging, depth includes understanding how products behave under heat, freezing or ambient conditions. It involves knowing migration parameters and regulatory frameworks. Without this knowledge, conversations remain transactional.

High value-added machinery investments must align with this depth. Installing specialised equipment for segments that are not core only dilutes focus. “Rather than putting eggs in different baskets, decide on a particular sector,” he says. “Invest well in high-end value-added machines and reap the benefits.”

He is blunt about the consequences of not doing so. “The buyers have unreasonable power because we do not know what we are good at,” he says. “Unless we find our own niche as a company, the buyers are always going to take advantage.”

Consistency, systems and the Indian gap

Quality, in Chhaparia’s view, extends beyond product performance. It includes communication and systems integration.

“For basic things like when is the shipment going to be dispatched, they should not have to send us an email,” he says. Cambay integrates its internal systems with client systems, allowing shared visibility of dispatch data and order status.

“Why does DHL share tracking details,” he asks. “Because it cannot handle such large amounts of inquiries.”

Consistency is critical. “Even if it is for better, you cannot change quality in every lot,” he says. Buyers expect predictability. Variation, even positive, can disrupt supply chains.

On certification, he notes that European food contact regulations are stringent. In India, frameworks specific to food packaging remain limited. “We need a certificate or regulation specifically certifying food packaging,” he says, urging greater engagement between industry bodies and government.

A focused path forward

Although Cambay is currently export focused, Chhaparia sees potential in India’s growing food service market. However, he describes it as fragmented.

“In Europe or the US, there is a fixed chain,” he says. “There are importers, national distributors, regional distributors and city distributors. In India, everybody is taking a shot at everything.”

As distribution hierarchies mature, he expects the Indian market to become more structured and attractive. When that happens, the same principles of specialisation and certification will determine leadership.

In the end, his message is clear and grounded in lived experience. “In exports, there is no other way,” he repeats. “You cannot be generic and compete with the best in the world.”

For Indian packaging converters navigating a tightening global landscape, that may be less a warning and more a roadmap.

Distance, risk and the reinvention of Indian print — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 06:00:00

At the Radisson Blu in Kochi, P Sajith, managing director of Bindwel Stelda Group, does not begin his keynote with export statistics or machinery specifications. Instead, he begins with a map.

On the screen appears a five-kilometre radius around the seminar venue. Within that compact circle lie his birthplace, childhood home, school and college. The physical coordinates of his formative years. It is a quiet but deliberate opening.

Before speaking about deglobalisation, supply chains or digital disruption, Sajith wants the audience to consider something more fundamental. Distance.

“My life expanded with distance,” he says. “But print’s future lies in intelligent proximity.”

It is a striking formulation. Over the next hour at Print and Beyond 2025, the managing director of Bindwel Stelda Group builds a compelling case that geography, once taken for granted in print, is once again becoming decisive. The industry, he suggests, must rethink not just what it produces, but where it produces and for whom.

In an age when files can move instantly across continents, physical print is increasingly defined by how close it sits to consumption. The future, he argues, will belong not to the biggest plants, but to those who understand precisely where they are needed.

The business of distance

Printing has always had an unspoken economic boundary. Every printed product carries a silent calculation. How far can it travel before freight begins to erode the margin? At what point does logistics outweigh production efficiency?

For years, many printers expanded capacity on the assumption that scale would solve most competitive pressures. Larger presses, bigger plants and higher throughput promised cost advantages. Yet in the current environment, Sajith argues that geography is regaining primacy.

Corrugated packaging provides the clearest example. In most cases, corrugated boxes remain economically viable within a radius of around 100 to 200 kilometres. Beyond that, the combination of bulk and freight cost rapidly compresses margins. Even highly automated plants cannot fully offset this structural limitation.

This is why corrugation is less a scale business and more a geography business. Success depends on proximity to customers, particularly in FMCG and industrial clusters. Plants exist where consumption exists. The economics are shaped by distance as much as by efficiency.

Flexible packaging operates with a similar logic, although the drivers differ slightly. Laminates and films are closely tied to filling lines. Time sensitivity is high. Integration with production schedules is critical. Here too, proximity often determines competitiveness.

Mono cartons reveal another dimension. Brand owners increasingly demand shorter launch cycles and greater certainty of delivery. Delays are costlier than before. In this environment, localised supply chains reduce risk. A carton supplier located closer to the customer can respond faster to artwork changes, compliance updates and volume adjustments.

Different segments behave differently, but the underlying principle is constant. Print economics cannot be separated from geography.

Capability determines reach

Books, however, complicate the picture.

India’s strength in book printing is anchored in educational publishing. Government textbook printing alone accounts for approximately 2.5-billion copies annually. That volume has created deep industrial capability in managing scale, paper procurement, binding consistency and time-bound delivery.

Yet when books cross borders, capability becomes more important than scale.

In markets such as Africa, India has historically supplied textbooks because of limited local paper manufacturing capacity and logistical constraints in several landlocked countries. However, Sajith points to Bangladesh as an instructive example. Once paper mills were established locally, textbook printing quickly shifted inward. Distance advantages can evaporate when raw material ecosystems mature.

European markets tell a different story. Here, India has gained traction in complex illustrated children’s books and premium hardbound editions. These are not low-value commodity exports. They demand precision engineering, specialised finishing and strong quality control. Printers who once supplied basic paperbacks at two dollars per copy have, in some cases, increased value per book to nine dollars by handling greater complexity.

Complexity, in effect, allows books to travel further.

The United States market is currently influenced by a China plus one sourcing approach. Publishers are looking to diversify supply risk. This presents an opportunity, but only for those who can deliver consistent quality and manage compliance requirements.

Interestingly, Sajith notes that the strongest growth in books is not necessarily in exports, but within India. Digital printing has enabled publishers to move away from large speculative print runs. Instead, they are printing smaller quantities more frequently, often aligned with actual classroom sizes or niche demand.

He cites examples of print runs as precise as 126 or 221 copies. These are not symbolic numbers. They reflect real class strengths or specific institutional orders. Digital technology has made such precision economically viable.

“Books are travelling less but reaching more people,” he says.

The number of titles is rising, even as individual runs shrink. Regional language publishing is expanding. Second prints are no longer rare events. They are routine.

In this sense, distance in books is being reshaped not by freight, but by production technology and content fragmentation.

Risk is the new cost

If geography defines operational economics, risk now defines strategic thinking.

For decades, globalisation rewarded cost arbitrage. Production migrated to wherever labour or raw materials were cheapest. Long supply chains were tolerated because the savings justified the distance.

Today, risk is often more important than cost.

Pandemic disruptions, shipping delays and geopolitical tensions have exposed the fragility of extended supply networks. Procurement teams increasingly weigh reliability and predictability alongside price.

Sajith observes that manufacturers are now asking what can be sourced within India before looking outward. This does not imply isolation. It signals recalibration. He refers to the pharmaceutical sector, where API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) faced severe competition from China. The government did not do anything, thinking the value is added on finished product – medicine. But when supply chains reopened after Covid, we struggled - and now companies are trying to build API capabilities. The lesson for print is that overdependence on distant sources can create vulnerability.

At the same time, rising finished goods exports offer new opportunities. Smartphone exports from India have crossed approximately 30-billion US dollars in recent years. Packaging suppliers have followed these manufacturing clusters, establishing plants to serve mono cartons, inserts and related printed components.

When print is embedded within a finished product value chain, it benefits from the growth of that product category. Standalone export printing, by contrast, remains more exposed to local capacity development abroad.

“If India exported more finished goods, print would ride value, not chase volume,” Sajith says.

The distinction is important. Volume can disappear when local alternatives emerge. Value embedded within integrated supply chains is more resilient.

Education finds its anchor

The education sector offers a compelling counterpoint to narratives of digital displacement.

During the pandemic, digital schooling became unavoidable. Yet as physical classrooms reopened, parents and educators began to reassess the long-term effects of sustained screen exposure. Several countries have introduced restrictions on digital device use in schools. Debates around attention span and cognitive development have intensified.

Sajith points to an emerging consensus that physical reading reduces distraction and improves retention. When reading from a printed page, the reader is less likely to shift to another application or notification. Focus remains anchored.

For Indian printers, this is more than a philosophical observation. It has commercial implications. With one of the largest school-going populations in the world, India’s demand for textbooks remains structurally strong.

At the same time, digital print enables flexibility. Publishers can reduce inventory risk by printing smaller batches more frequently. Regional language content can be expanded without locking up capital in unsold stock.

Education is therefore not a battleground between print and digital. It is an evolving ecosystem in which print continues to play a central cognitive role.

From steel to systems

Sajith also challenges printers to look inward. Indian print has historically been asset-intensive. Investments in land and machinery have built impressive capacities across offset, packaging and post-press. Yet capacity alone does not guarantee competitiveness.

“Machines create capacity. People create relevance,” he says.

When customers visit a print facility, they are often shown presses and finishing lines. While impressive, these assets do not necessarily address the customer’s core concerns, which increasingly revolve around reliability, communication and risk mitigation.

Sajith argues that printers must invest more consciously in systems and people. Research and development, for instance, remains underdeveloped in many print shops. Testing new substrates, documenting failure cases and creating controlled sample runs can reduce uncertainty for customers.

He advocates transparency. Showing customers both successes and failures builds trust. Testing before committing reduces disputes. Proving capability before promising scale shifts conversations away from price alone.

In book printing, sample copies created under near production conditions can reveal potential issues such as spine colour variation or binding inconsistencies. While it may not always be possible to replicate full-scale production in a sample, the effort signals seriousness.

In an increasingly competitive market, differentiation may lie less in machinery lists and more in how well printers manage complexity.

The rise of hyperlocal

Consumer behaviour is evolving in subtle but powerful ways.

Quick commerce platforms have trained urban consumers to expect near immediate fulfilment. Purchases that once covered a week are now made daily. This habit formation has broader implications.

If consumers grow accustomed to same-day delivery for everyday goods, expectations may gradually extend to other categories, including books and customised print.

Digital files already travel instantly. The physical act of printing and delivering may increasingly occur closer to the point of consumption.

Hyperlocalisation becomes viable when digital production, data analytics and decentralised capacity align. Instead of shipping finished goods across long distances, printers may increasingly serve micro markets within tighter radii.

For Indian printers, particularly in metropolitan regions, this could reshape investment decisions. The question may no longer be how large a central plant should be, but how intelligently distributed capacity can meet demand.

Win at home first

Despite the global themes of his address, Sajith returns repeatedly to the importance of local credibility.

He recounts an early experience involving a small bookbinder who invested in automation. Previously made to wait outside publishers’ offices, the binder’s status shifted once reliability improved. Automation delivered consistency, and consistency earned trust.

Excellence in local markets precedes global recognition.

Sajith offers a personal example. A former global chief executive of a leading European binding equipment company, Kai Buntemeyer, travels from Rahden (Germany) to Thiruvananthapuram to work with Bindwel Stelda. The decision was not driven by marketing brochures. It was driven by sustained engagement and demonstrated capability.

Sometimes, he suggests, you do not need to chase the world. You need to build something strong enough that the world comes to you.

Choosing distance wisely

As the keynote draws to a close, Sajith returns to his central question. How intelligently will you choose your distance?

For corrugation, the answer may lie within a 200-kilometre radius. For complex book exports, it may lie in engineering sophistication. For mono cartons serving manufacturing clusters, it may lie in integration with industrial growth. For education, it may lie in cognitive relevance. For digital print, it may lie in accessibility and proximity.

The industry stands at a point where supply chains are shortening, risk considerations are intensifying, and digital tools are enabling hyperlocalisation. Sajith says, “In this environment, scale remains important, but it is no longer sufficient. The printers who thrive will be those who understand where they add the most value and who align their physical presence accordingly.”

Life, as Sajith reflects, may expand with distance. Print, increasingly, may succeed by coming closer.

Five lessons that are reshaping Holosafe Security Labels

Noel D'Cunha — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 09:36:00

Preeti Mishra did not set out to become a printer. After years in investment banking, where daily numbers, risk analysis, compliance decisions, and high-stakes transactions moved money at scale, Preeti Mishra left corporate life to join Holosafe Security Labels, the Greater Noida-based company her parents had founded seventeen years earlier.

Mishra anticipated a more measured world of machines, inks, substrates, and production schedules. Instead, she encountered one of the most demanding industries she had ever known. “I genuinely believed that I was in the most fast-paced industry that there can ever be, until I entered printing,” Mishra recalls during her presentation at the Print & Beyond 2026 seminar in Kochi.

In just twelve months she found herself immersed in a business driven by relentless human judgement, countless small variables that could derail an entire job, and coordination challenges that often mattered more than sheer speed.

Today, as head of business development, Mishra oversees everything from R&D and capital expenditure decisions to production oversight, quality control, and sales efforts. She chooses to sit with the team on the shop floor rather than in a separate office, learning the nitty-gritty details firsthand.

Her 19-minute talk distilled those intense early experiences into five practical lessons, each rooted in real jobs, client conversations, and strategic shifts at Holosafe. These insights reveal why many printers already know what needs to change yet struggle to execute, and why discipline, measurement, and differentiation will define success heading into the coming decade.

Losses erode margins silently
One of Mishra’s earliest reviews involved a job that appeared exemplary on every surface metric. The order carried strong value, the client approved the design without issue, production ran smoothly with no visible drama, and both she and her parents felt genuinely satisfied with the outcome.

“On paper, it looked perfect. The order value was great, design was satisfied, and production was cool. No prices, no drama,” Mishra says. Yet when the team sat down for a thorough breakdown, the picture changed dramatically. Additional passes on press, elevated wastage levels, and significant idle machine time had quietly consumed nearly all the anticipated margin. The company avoided an outright loss, but profitability had evaporated through accumulated small inefficiencies.

“Nothing had really failed. It’s just that discipline had slipped in print,” Mishra explains. “Losses don’t announce themselves. They don’t come with red alerts; they just quietly eat away your margins.”

She drew a direct parallel to her banking days, where unmonitored daily figures allowed margins to erode steadily until the damage became visible. In printing the effect is even more pronounced because variables across substrates, inks, setups, operator decisions, and coordination, multiply rapidly and compound without warning.

This experience crystallised her first lesson: operational discipline is non-negotiable. Without it, cash flow tightens and growth becomes dangerous rather than advantageous. “Scale without discipline is just faster losses,” she warns.

For family-run businesses like Holosafe, where ambitions for expansion are high, the risk is acute. Printers who treat every job with the same daily scrutiny once applied to financial exposures - compliance, tracking passes, wastage percentages, idle time, and every minor deviation, build the resilience needed to protect profitability as volumes increase. Those who let discipline slip month after month find themselves trapped in low-margin cycles, where even healthy-looking top-line growth fails to translate into sustainable cash flow.

Clients buy confidence not labels
Sales conversations at Holosafe frequently began and ended on familiar transactional ground.

Discussions centred on price per label, order volume, promised delivery dates, and incremental negotiations that often boiled down to differences of five or ten rupees per piece. “The conversation began the same way: price per label, volume, delivery time,” Mishra recalls. It was a pattern that felt routine until one exchange shifted the entire dynamic. A client casually mentioned significant counterfeiting problems in certain markets, resulting in substantial financial losses, brand leakage, and eroded consumer trust. The focus moved instantly from unit pricing to existential protection.

Suddenly the stakes felt different. “They weren’t buying labels. They were buying protection. They were buying credibility, and they were buying confidence from us,” Mishra realises.

The moment the dialogue pivoted to brand safeguarding, price receded to the periphery. The client was no longer shopping for packaging; he sought reassurance that his brand remained credible and secure in the marketplace.

Mishra recognised that surviving and thriving printers must reposition themselves as advisors rather than vendors. “The printers who survive into 2026 are the ones who shift their mindset from being a vendor to an advisor, not by pushing products, but by asking the right questions,” she says.

Probing for deeper concerns, counterfeiting risks in specific regions, market leakage from fakes, and trust erosion among consumers, changes the relationship from price-driven to value-driven. The result is stronger client loyalty, reduced churn, and the ability to command better margins by delivering solutions that address genuine anxieties far beyond the cost of a label.

“Printers who master this listening and advisory approach escape the commodity trap and build defensible positions in an increasingly crowded market,” says Mishra.

Variability replaces volume dominance
For much of its seventeen-year history Holosafe thrived on large, uniform commercial runs. Monthly volume figures often looked robust on aggregate.

“Total volume looked very healthy for a time,” Mishra says. Closer inspection, however, revealed a different reality: the workload consisted of dozens of short-run SKUs, varying sizes, frequent artwork changes, and customised elements rather than a handful of massive, identical orders. Machines remained occupied, yet constant changeovers, adjustments, and makereadies destroyed overall efficiency. “Machines weren’t just busy, they were inefficient, busy with changeovers, adjustments, small batches, frequent resets,” she explained.

This mismatch between traditional assumptions and market demands prompted a major strategic pivot: investment in digital press technology and a complete rethinking of operations. “The biggest shift is not technology. It’s variability,” Mishra states. Brands increasingly require flexibility, personalisation, regional adaptations, and rapid response to emerging trends. Printers organised solely around long identical runs now face mounting hidden costs in setups, downtime, and underutilised capacity. “Rigidity is more expensive than investments,” she warned.

In contrast, operations designed for quick changeovers and diverse short runs capture high-value opportunities that inflexible systems forfeit. The transition at Holosafe was not merely about acquiring new equipment; it demanded revised workflows, retrained teams, and a willingness to accept that yesterday’s core strengths, volume efficiency, could become tomorrow’s liabilities.

Mishra predicts that the next five to ten years will reward printers who build their models around variability rather than predictability, turning what was once seen as complexity into a competitive advantage.

People outweigh machines
A technically straightforward job once failed despite meeting every apparent condition. “The machine was capable. The raw materials were correct. The deadline was very realistic, nothing extraordinary,” Mishra says. The breakdown stemmed not from equipment limitations but from minor coordination gaps, misaligned settings between departments, small communication oversights, inconsistent process adherence, that escalated rapidly on press. “Small misses multiply,” she noted.

“Machines don’t fail businesses, but process gaps and skill gaps do,” Mishra observes. Equipment can be financed or leased, but workforce capability must be deliberately developed. “Machines can be financed, but skill has to be built.” The industry no longer needs operators who simply run machines; it requires “techno-operators” who grasp end-to-end processes, interpret data, and exercise sound judgement when variables arise.

“This industry needs techno-operators; people who understand processes, not just a machine,” she says. Automation delivers consistency on repetitive tasks and reduces human error in routine operations, yet human insight remains essential for troubleshooting unexpected issues, optimising setups, and driving continuous improvement.

Leadership that invests in building these skilled, process-aware teams creates defensible advantages that technology alone cannot replicate. Mishra argues that gaps in people development become visible faster than gaps in hardware, and printers who prioritise workforce capability position themselves for long-term reliability and innovation in an industry where human judgement often determines the difference between success and failure.

Measurement prevents hidden damage
Banking had ingrained in Mishra the habit of tracking every exposure, risk ratio, and performance metric. Printing revealed a different reality: many critical steps remained invisible and unquantified.

One painful example involved a major client who quietly stopped placing repeat orders. The total turnaround time had stretched beyond forty days, even though actual press production consumed only fifteen days.

“We did not realise how it took 40 days for the repeat jobs to take time,” Mishra explains. The hidden delays occurred in pre-press stages - artwork approval, grammar corrections, plate mastering, and because those phases lacked systematic measurement, the problem persisted unnoticed until the relationship was lost.

“In printing, if you don’t measure something, you will end up seeing losses in those areas, if not now, then two years, three years later,” she warns. The printers who win tomorrow will quantify the full order lifecycle, not just press uptime but every stage from initial enquiry to final dispatch. Untracked areas breed repeating errors that compound into client attrition and reputational harm over time.

Mishra posed a rhetorical question to the audience: how many believe price is the biggest problem in Indian printing? Almost no hands rose. “People already know price is not a problem. Undifferentiating printing is a problem,” she says. When offerings appear identical, price becomes the only competitive lever. A dangerous place to compete.

Mishra closed her presentation with a clear hierarchy for success in the years ahead. “Discipline beats machines, systems beat pricing, talent beats speed, speed beats perfection, trust beats market,” she says. For her, printing remains a disciplined, thinking, deeply human business. She looks forward to the next thirty to forty years with genuine excitement, grateful to be part of an industry that rewards those who combine operational rigour with genuine client partnership and continuous learning.

Q&A highlights

When should a printing company pursue growth and when should it pause to strengthen fundamentals?
Mishra explains that recent marketing efforts have generated strong inbound leads, including a long-sought account. Accepting the work without a fully prepared production capacity led to quality issues and delays in the first three months. “Although the sales and marketing, the front end of the business had ramped up, the back end lagged,” she says. The clear lesson: ramp sales only when people, processes, and equipment can deliver consistently. Growth must follow operational readiness, not precede it.

What single practical step can a mid-size printer take tomorrow to become more data-driven?
Assuming an ERP system is already in place, the next move is integration with clients for real-time visibility. “If your order has been logged in, your client should know that it has been logged in,” Mishra suggests. There is also value in simple automation, such as WhatsApp notifications between sales, production, and dispatch teams to create smoother information flow and reduce client anxiety.

Why do so many printers know these principles yet execute them poorly?
Mishra answers with empathy. Most owners possess the knowledge, but daily operational demands consume all available bandwidth. “It’s just the time of the day-to-day hassle that they are not able to apply,” she says, citing her father’s experience as a veteran operator who understands these truths yet rarely finds time to step back and implement simplifications.

Opinion: The Indian paper industry’s real challenge

Divya Subramaniam — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:46:00

The prevailing concern within India’s paper manufacturing sector is the chronic issue of low domestic demand, which forces mills into partial shutdowns to manage supply and rates. The initial question is often: How do we increase demand? The answer, however, lies not in trying to artificially generate consumption but in a radical, data-driven transformation of operations to improve quality and reduce costs.

The core challenge facing Indian mills is deeply ingrained operational inefficiency, driven by what experts term the "cost of fear."

When PrintWeek spoke with tech experts from the paper fraternity, they said this is a hidden expense incurred by conservative, non-data-driven practices. Typically, this is over-processing. This means increasing rejects to marginally reduce specks, applying excessive vacuum for minor dryness gains, or overdosing on chemicals — all to safeguard against poor quality.

Another red flag is wastage. These fear-based practices escalate energy, chemical, maintenance, and yield losses without delivering proportional quality benefits. As one industry veteran noted, the "cost of fear of poor quality" is often more significant than the "cost of poor quality" itself.

The pathway to sustainable growth requires moving from this defensive mindset to one of redefining operational benchmarks across the entire value chain.

The industry must focus on systemic efficiency to produce competitive quality paper at a lower manufacturing cost, thereby reducing reliance on imports and naturally increasing effective domestic demand.

This includes optimising yield. A mere 2-5% increase in pulp yield for integrated mills can lead to significant benefits, including a 13-15% jump in production capacity, and substantial reductions in consumption of raw materials, power, water, and coal.

Deployment of precision and data: This means utilisation of real-time data and process capability measures to identify and reduce variation, rather than simply shifting averages, is essential. Crucially, this data analysis must be filtered through domain knowledge to avoid disastrous, non-scalable lab-based conclusions.

Capturing waste energy includes simple measures, such as controlling silo water temperature (a critical factor for paper machine efficiency in winter) through efficient heat recovery from sources like the hood exhaust or turbo blower, which can yield significant savings in steam and energy consumption.

The ultimate solution for the Indian paper industry is not a demand strategy, but a quality and cost strategy. By confronting the systemic waste and operational inefficiencies and making a collective commitment to producing world-class products at a competitive price, the industry can create a strong market entry barrier for competitors and secure its long-term future.

This transformation requires collaboration, a willingness to change entrenched processes, and a shared vision to become a global leader. Till such times, some Indian paper mills must run partial shutdowns in order to control supply and rates, as a consequence of low Indian paper demand.

Operational fear, which drives conservative and costly practices in paper mills, is driven by the fear of poor quality.

This fear manifests in:

Increasing rejects to control specks or holes in paper.

Applying high vacuum for only slight increases in dryness.

Using unnecessary chemicals or overdosing to safeguard quality.

Maintaining high safety margins in utilities and processes without technical justification.

Shifting operational inputs towards the higher side to counter potential losses, even if the loss incurred by the shift is higher than the original potential loss.

Ultimately, the desire to prevent quality failure often results in practices where the "cost of fear of poor quality" is greater than the "cost of poor quality" itself.

In printing landscape finishing now decides who scales

Himanshu Mehta — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:24:00

India’s digital printing market was ~USD 1.46-billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at ~9.1% CAGR (2024–2030). Globally, digital printing is also expanding, with one estimate placing the market at ~USD 38.07-billion (2023), projected to ~USD 57.03-billion by 2030. And the demand pull is increasingly “online-to-production”: India’s web-to-print market ~USD 614-million (2024), projected to reach ~USD 899-million by 2030.

That growth story matters because it creates a new baseline on the shopfloor: you can print fast, but if you finish slow, you deliver late. And late delivery is where margins disappear.

Post-press finishing now decides output
Where printing once set a capacity, finishing does so today. Frequent changeovers, mixed-job batches, and compressed schedules expose weak post-press workflows — long setup time (and repeat setups through the day), adjustment runs that create scrap, and manual handling that slows flow and introduces variation.

The most practical levers are still simple, but they must be engineered into the workflow: reduce changeover minutes, cut trial waste, and eliminate repeat manual steps. Improve these, and a shop gains usable capacity immediately — often faster than adding upstream print capacity.

Where SigLoch fits in
SigLoch from Bindwel is built specifically for this new digital production reality — an Indian-made digital post-press brand focused on solving finishing bottlenecks through compact, high-precision cutting and digital-era binding, backed by Bindwel’s engineering and service network.

In simple terms: SigLoch enables printers to finish faster, waste less, change over quicker, and confidently take on short-run, high-mix work without expanding footprint.

Why Indian-made solutions are the pragmatic choice
Imported machines have their place. But for the Indian digital print ecosystem — smaller floors, mixed-job reality, fast support requirements — Indian-made post-press equipment is often the smarter operational choice.

Local engineering typically brings faster spares availability and shorter lead times, quicker field response, and interfaces aligned to Indian operator adoption. In short: capability plus service alignment shortens payback and protects uptime — exactly what growth-stage printers need.

Shop-floor examples that matter
Across recent demos and discussions, the shift we saw was clear: printers were looking for measurable gains, not headline speeds. That means outcomes like fewer adjustments, lower scrap, faster repeatable setups, and the ability to “say yes” to more jobs.

SigLoch Xe-Cut Pro Xtend offers large-format capability without a large-format footprint. A compact digital flatbed cutter that can finish 900 × 600 mm jobs (and beyond) while retaining a 600 × 400 footprint using an intelligent extended table and two-step workflow. When competitors push you to outsource or buy a larger footprint machine, Xtend helps you accept high-value larger-format work without expanding floor space.

SigLoch Xe-Cut Pro delivers precision cutting across substrates from 100 gsm to 6 mm thickness, with multi-tool flexibility — oscillating knife, V-groove, creasing, kiss-cutting — and camera-based registration. It eliminates the need for bulky offset-format cutters for many digital finishing needs, delivering versatility, space efficiency and cost advantage in one platform.

SigLoch Xe-Cut is designed for short runs without conventional dies — ideal for samples, prototyping and customisation. In real production terms, digital cutters like this help printers move into higher-margin products such as boxes, danglers, standees, labels, calendars and tags — where differentiation is real.

SigLoch Zen brings offset-quality perfect binding for runs of 1, 10, 100 or 1000. Compact, with three-roller gluing, driven side gluing and powerful cover nipping, it addresses the short-run economics and repeatability digital printers require.

SigLoch 1200 is a three-clamp binder delivering high-end Bindwel book quality for digital runs, with stable, repeatable glue application.

These examples aren’t just specifications — they translate directly into shop outcomes: less rework, less scrap, faster setup-to-output, and more jobs accepted per day.

Designed for real production environments
When equipment is engineered around Indian production realities — compact footprints and simple operator adoption — it helps a shop scale from first jobs to steady volumes. This is exactly why Made in India matters in finishing: it’s not just price; it’s fit plus service plus uptime.

Service and uptime: The overlooked ROI
Automation only pays when machines run. Local service capability—trained engineers and regional service centres—converts installed features into dependable output. Shorter response times and access to genuine spares reduce downtime and protect margins.

Another factor that printers increasingly consider is long-term product continuity. In segments where imported equipment is frequently rebranded or distribution shifts between suppliers, model discontinuation or service uncertainty can become a risk over time. Finishing investments are typically expected to run for a decade or more, and predictable spares availability plays a crucial role in safeguarding that investment.

Established manufacturers with a long product lifecycle philosophy—where even machines installed decades ago continue to receive support and spares—provide an additional layer of operational security. For growing printers, that assurance often weighs as heavily as speed or specifications. This operational reliability is frequently the single biggest determinant of whether automation delivers its expected returns.

What printers should do next
Before buying anything, measure bottlenecks for 7–14 days: Changeover minutes (per job, per shift); Trial-run waste (sheets, boards, re-cuts); and Operator time spent on repeat tasks (setup, alignment, manual finishing steps).

For many growth-stage shops, the right finishing automation improves throughput and reduces unit cost faster than a bigger press investment upstream.

About SigLoch
SigLoch from Bindwel is the digital post-press arm of Bindwel, built on three decades of engineering and service DNA, focused specifically on digital-era finishing and post-print productivity.

If you want to evaluate what finishing upgrade will unlock the fastest gains in your workflow, be it any-shape cutting, binding, or both, the conversation starts with understanding your bottleneck.

Contact: SigLoch from Bindwel. Explore demos, applications, and workflow fitment with our team at Bindwel's official website.

This article was contributed by Sajith Pallipuram, managing director at Stelda Packaging and Bindwel and has been edited to meet the stylesheet of PrintWeek. The views expressed are that of the author.

Book scam in Bahraich: Tip of a much larger iceberg

Dibyajyoti Sarma — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:41:00

This incident, where the custodians of knowledge became the vendors of scrap, perfectly encapsulates the rot that has metastasised through our system. It is ground-level corruption in its most naked, cruel, and short-sighted form. The social media commentary that followed was a collective howl of anguish, and rightly so. As one commentator put it, those books were not paper; "They were opportunity. Literacy. A future." Selling them for a few thousand rupees in total shows how small-minded greed can destroy something truly priceless.

What makes this crime a profound indictment is not just the act, but the immediate, cynical prognosis of its consequence: a two-week suspension with full pay, followed by a quiet transfer or even a promotion. As one user noted, "The system isn't broken; it’s working exactly how they designed it to." This profound lack of accountability — the conviction that a government job shields one from any real consequence — is the oxygen that fuels such ethical collapse. We can debate reservation and policy frameworks endlessly, but the future of India's children is being quietly stolen at the district level while we’re distracted.

The problem, however, is not confined to the underbelly of the education system. It is a virus of systemic weakness that manifests across every tier of the economy, showing how easily trust and control can be subverted. Consider the sheer audacity of the bank fraud case in Rajasthan. Here, a bank manager, having lost a colossal sum in the stock market, first took out a large insurance policy and then orchestrated an elaborate gold loan fraud, potentially amounting to tens of crores. The initial breach was exposed not by an internal audit, but by a gold finance company employee who, by sheer coincidence, was defrauded with her own jewellery that was supposedly locked in the bank’s vault. The real story here is not the final scam, but the fact that an insider, familiar with the system’s checks and balances, knew exactly which ones would fail, illustrating a failure of internal governance on a massive financial scale.

Then, there is the private sector’s version of the ethical short circuit. The story of the new Customer Support hire at a Delhi sneaker brand, who, within his first seven days, generated and used 100% discount codes to pilfer over INR 2 lakh worth of merchandise for his friends before quitting, is a tragicomic commentary on modern ethics. It is not "smart work" or a "loophole;" it is straight-up internal fraud. But just as with the teachers and the bank manager, this incident points to a backend governance failure. If a junior employee can print unlimited ‘free’ passes with zero approval, the system has effectively invited a heist. This is what happens "jab system jugaad pe chalta hai aur discipline zero hota hai." The mindset of 'take what you can, while you can' is now a cultural default.

And finally, we must consider the mother of all untracked economies: the vast, opaque, cash-rich ecosystem of our 20 lakh temples. With an estimated annual value running into lakhs of crores—a sum bigger than the municipal budgets of most Indian cities—this parallel economy operates outside the formal ledger, mostly in cash, untracked, 365 days a year. When state governments themselves cannot provide a clear answer on how much cash currency their controlled temples collect, it normalises a staggering degree of unaccountability at the national level.

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) estimates the annual value of India's temple economy at INR 3 lakh crore, which is about 2.3% of India's GDP. Some puts the annual value at INR 6 lakh crore. Additionally, Indians spend INR 4.74 lakh crore a year on religious travel. If wealth (mostly in printed currency) of this magnitude operates without scrutiny, it creates a systemic blind spot—an environment where the smaller acts of corruption, from selling textbooks to robbing banks, are seen as simply a local expression of a national culture of zero oversight.

We are left with a sobering conclusion. The book scam in Bahraich is just the exposed tip of a much larger iceberg. Whether it’s the theft of a child’s dream, a bank manager’s gambling debt, or a rogue CS hire’s desire for free sneakers, the root cause is the same: weak controls, high incentives for individual gain, and a near-certainty of zero consequence. To fix the 'ground-level fraud,' we must first fix the national mindset that accepts a system designed for institutional weakness.

To fight this rot, implement printing solutions like QR codes and track-and-trace technology on all government assets. This ensures an unbreakable chain of accountability, preventing the pilfering of aid meant for the poor. The battle for India's future is not just in Parliament; it is in securing the lock on a school storeroom, tightening a banking access protocol, and, most importantly, creating a culture where consequences are non-negotiable. Until then, the rot will continue to work exactly as designed.

When the pack carries the brand — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 09:15:00

On a screen, every brand looks sharp. Resolution is high, colours are controlled, and the environment is frictionless. A digital storefront rarely smells of humidity, never suffers a scuffed corner, and does not have to survive a truck ride across states. Yet brands do not live on screens alone. They arrive in homes as boxes, bottles, sachets and labels. They are cut open with kitchen knives, stacked in cupboards, squeezed, poured, shaken and sometimes dropped.

It is in these unscripted moments that packaging stops being a marketing afterthought and becomes a brand’s physical reality.

That reality sits at the centre of two closely watched panels at Heidelberg’s Networking Summit in Mumbai on 29 January 2026. The conversations bring together FMCG leaders, pharmaceutical executives, eCommerce specialists and print and packaging service providers. Their shared concern is simple to state but complex to solve. When attention is digital but experience is physical, what exactly is the role of print packaging?

Noel D’Cunha of PrintWeek and WhatPackaging? opened one of the panels with a line that frames the day. A pack, he says, is “the last advertisement before purchase and the first experience after purchase.” It is a reminder that the brand journey does not end at checkout. In many cases it only begins there.

In a parallel session, Jitesh Mehta of Avery Dennison South Asia makes a related observation. For a growing share of consumers, he says, “the first physical interaction with a brand now happens at home, not on a store shelf.” The shelf is increasingly virtual. The pack is the store.

The scale of the opportunity explains the urgency. India’s packaging industry is not merely growing; it is expanding at a pace that few adjacent sectors can match. In 2023, the sector is estimated at USD 71.9-billion, and projections suggest it could reach USD 130.14-billion by 2028, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of around 12.6%. Within this, label printing alone accounts for roughly USD 2.3-billion today, with forecasts pointing to USD 3.6-billion by 2025. Per capita label consumption has climbed from about 0.25 square metres in 2008 to nearly one square metre in 2023, a fourfold rise that mirrors the shift toward organised retail, branded goods and SKU proliferation.

Across both discussions, a pattern emerges. Packaging is no longer a downstream execution of a brand decision. It is part of the decision itself. It must carry identity, satisfy regulation, survive logistics, deter counterfeiting, justify price, support sustainability claims and still look desirable on a phone camera.

The pack, in other words, is doing more jobs than ever.

Identity on the outside

Chinmaya Dandekar of Godrej Consumer Products reaches for a metaphor that draws a quick reaction from the audience. “A brand without packaging is like a person without clothes in public,” he says. The comparison is vivid but the logic is commercial. Packaging is what makes a brand recognisable, socially present and contextually appropriate.

For legacy FMCG companies, this is not theoretical. Decades of brand building are encoded in colours, shapes and layout systems. A certain shade of green, a specific logo placement, a familiar typeface all act as shortcuts for memory. Consumers do not read every pack. They recognise it.

Dandekar points to categories such as household care and personal protection. A mosquito repellent, at its core, is a chemical solution. The printed pack reassures the buyer that the formulation is safe, tested and backed by a known company. Strip away the design and the same liquid in a plain container inspires far less confidence.

The impact shows up directly in pricing power. When a product looks generic, it competes like a commodity. When it looks branded, it can command a premium. Packaging, therefore, is not a wrapper. It is a value signal.

This link between packaging and value is increasingly visible in fast growing digital first brands. Sridhar J of Plum describes how beauty and personal care brands now operate in a world where every product is potential content. “The pack has to look right on the shelf and on the screen,” he says.

A lipstick or serum is rarely seen only in a store. It is unboxed on video, photographed for reviews and displayed on social feeds. If the packaging does not translate well visually, the brand loses free amplification. Design is now partly a media strategy.

Plum’s own experience illustrates the stakes. The company has doubled revenues in recent years while staying profitable. Sridhar credits a deliberate upgrade in packaging, including attention to tactile elements. Matte finishes, soft touch coatings and considered colour palettes influence how consumers perceive quality even before use.

He notes that influencer endorsements can trigger visible sales spikes. When that happens, the first physical confirmation of the hype is the pack that lands in the customer’s hand. If it feels underwhelming, the halo fades quickly.

What emerges is a broader truth. Identity today must travel across physical and digital touchpoints without distortion. Packaging is the bridge that carries brand codes between those worlds.

Recognition and repurchase

If identity attracts, recognition retains. Sharad Chandak of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals explains why packaging in pharma carries unusual weight. Medicines are not impulse buys. They are tied to health, routines and trust. “A plain pack creates doubt,” he says.

Patients often remember medicines by visual cues rather than chemical names. A particular colour band, strip design or brand mark becomes a memory anchor. When those cues change or disappear, continuity suffers. In therapies that require long term adherence, that continuity matters.

Chandak argues that if branding and printing were removed, the first casualty would be repurchase. Loyalty in pharma is partly visual. Price sensitivity appears later. The initial barrier is trust.

Pharmaceutical packs also operate under technical constraints that outsiders may misread. Extra layers, special foils or thicker boards can look excessive. In reality they may be protecting against moisture, light or temperature variation. Stability data, not marketing enthusiasm, often drives these decisions.

The pharmaceutical example highlights a larger point. Not all packaging choices are aesthetic. Many are functional responses to risk.

In eCommerce, the risk looks different but the logic is similar. Sandeep Sangwan of Flipkart explains that the buying decision online is shaped by catalogue images, ratings and prior experience. By the time the product arrives, expectations are already formed.

The delivered pack must validate what the screen promised. If the colour looks off, the structure feels flimsy or the print appears dull, the brand pays a penalty in reviews and repeat purchase. Digital discovery still ends in physical judgement.

ECommerce also introduces a new role for packaging. Transit packs double as communication surfaces. Millions of parcels entering homes each day create moments of brand contact that did not exist in traditional retail. A box can carry campaign messaging, instructions, cross promotions or personalised notes.

Sangwan notes that younger consumers increasingly prefer minimal and honest design. Easy opening, fewer layers and clear disposal paths influence satisfaction. Convenience becomes part of brand equity. “Recognition, therefore, is not only about graphics. It is also about predictability. Consumers want to know what they will get and how easily they can access it.”

Regulation and real estate

Few categories illustrate constraint like alcobev. Heemanshu Ashar of John Distilleries explains that large parts of a label are legally prescribed. Statutory warnings, declarations and state specific information claim valuable space. “Branding must work around these blocks.”

This does not eliminate creativity. It redirects it. Secondary packs, mono cartons and structural elements become storytelling platforms. Ashar describes bottles where hidden artwork becomes visible as the liquid level drops, allowing a narrative to unfold over time.

Such ideas show how packaging can extend brand experience beyond purchase. The consumer keeps discovering.

The alcobev market also spans wide volume ranges. Mass brands ship in millions of cases, sometimes in unconventional formats. At the other extreme are single cask editions with limited bottles. Both rely on print to signal authenticity and positioning, but their cost structures and design languages differ.

Cost pressure remains a constant undercurrent. High duties and limited credits squeeze margins. Secondary packaging is often examined first for savings. Sustainability arguments may support these moves, but the trigger is frequently financial.

When the conversation turns to packaging as real estate, speakers show caution. Dandekar warns that “overloading the pack with claims can dilute the message.” More copy does not mean more persuasion. Clarity wins.

In pharma, large portions of the surface are non-negotiable because of warnings and instructions. Quick identification from a distance is critical. In alcohol, designers fight for every permissible millimetre. Hierarchy becomes a discipline.

The shared conclusion is that packaging space is finite. Discipline in communication is becoming a competitive skill.

Surviving the journey

If branding defines the intent, logistics tests the outcome. Sandeep Bhargava of Kumar Printers brings attention to India’s handling realities. Rough loading, variable warehousing and climate swings place stress on packaging.

“A pack may travel from a humid coastal plant to a dry inland city, then to an air-conditioned retail environment. Each shift affects board behaviour, adhesives and print surfaces. Designing for these variables requires technical foresight,” says Bhargava.

Bhargava stresses that functionality often overrides decoration. A beautifully finished pack that fails in transit damages both product and reputation. Survival is a design parameter.

On print consistency, the industry has made progress. Colour management tools and process controls allow standardisation. Yet tactile consistency remains harder to measure. Feel depends on coatings, substrates and finishing interactions.

Vivek Kapoor of Creative Labels notes that even with modern presses, variables such as dust or adhesive behaviour can affect output. Branding at scale requires constant calibration. “Quality is a process, not a one-time achievement,” he says.

Quick commerce introduces another expectation layer. A ten-minute delivery feels like a store visit. The outer bag or pack carries emotional weight. A crushed or dull bag can reduce the delight of immediacy.

Consumers also associate simplicity with respect. Easy opening and reduced layers signal consideration. Packaging design is quietly absorbing lessons from user experience design in digital products.

From supplier to co-creator

As packaging complexity rises, so does the expectation from packaging service providers. Parul Goel of Reckitt argues that cost and compliance are now entry tickets. “We look for partners who act as brand custodians,” she says.

That custodianship includes questioning briefs, advising on shelf visibility and flagging regulatory issues. Packaging service providers who understand global standards and ethical sourcing expectations become strategic partners.

Digital integration is part of this shift. Brands value suppliers who can align systems, support forecasting and scale smoothly from pilot to mass production. As portfolios multiply, reliability matters.

Naveen Stuart of Marico brings nuance to premiumisation. Not every brand needs the same treatment. For mass products, expensive finishes may not translate into perceived value. For premium or digital first brands, tactile and visual cues can support positioning. “Value perception is the core,” he says.

Sustainability adds another filter. Recyclability and material reduction are shaped by both regulation and consumer awareness. Decorative effects are being reconsidered in that context. The challenge is to balance aesthetics with system compatibility.

Nirav Shah of Letra Graphix points to connected packaging as the next frontier. QR codes, colour QR, NFC and interactive print can link the physical pack to digital content. A scan can deliver traceability, usage guidance or authentication.

Anti-counterfeiting sits close to this discussion. In pharma, it is a serious safety issue. Variable data, covert features and consumer education form part of the defence. In FMCG, holograms and codes help protect revenue and trust.

A final provocation from Gautam Agarwal of Ansa Pack from the audience, captures the converter’s dilemma. Innovation is often followed by price pressure. The consensus response is that if innovation adds consumer value and can scale, it earns its place. Not every idea must pay back immediately.

Both panels converge on a shared closing thought. Sustainability, cost and innovation now move together. Brands cannot treat them as separate phases. Responsibility and competitiveness must align.

In a media environment full of noise, print packaging rarely shouts. It does something more demanding. It performs. It survives. It reassures. It proves that the brand promise is not just a line on a screen. Quietly, in the consumer’s hand or at their doorstep, the pack carries the weight of the brand.

Vinsak positions Rotatek 850 as the missing middle for packaging converters

Noel D'Cunha — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:17:00

In packaging, most technology shifts do not arrive with a drumroll. They arrive quietly, in the form of a converter asking a simple question that changes the whole equation. What if the job is too long for digital to make sense, but too short for gravure to justify its origination cost. What if the brand wants quality that holds up on shelf, but also wants agility, frequent changeovers, and predictable margins. That gap is where Vinsak Group wants Rotatek’s Universal 850 to live.

Ranesh Bajaj, director at Vinsak Group, describes the Universal 850 as a platform designed for converters who want to build profitability through application-led thinking rather than scale-driven production. The pitch is not speed for speed’s sake. It is about building a new commercial lane for web offset in flexible packaging and film-based work.

“The Universal 850 is a platform that we are pushing for short to medium run for converters around the world,” says Bajaj. “This is web offset technology. The lowest cost of origination and for print runs of up to two tonnes of any- thing in film.”

Short runs need answers

Bajaj’s argument begins with a basic reset. The Universal 850 is not meant to compete with ultra-short-run digital, and it is not designed to be a gravure replacement for the highest-volume work. It is built to sit in the middle, where converters are often forced to compromise between cost, quality, and changeover discipline.

“We want to slot this solution aptly between digital which is only viable for ultra short run,” he says. “In simple terms, 100 kilos of material or below, the digital will be the in thing. But from the 100- to 2,000- or the 3,000- kilo market, the web offset can be a unique solution.” The target is short to medium runs where converters still want premium output, tighter repeatability, and better commercial control. Bajaj sees this as a segment that is expanding as brands launch more variants, manage inventory more carefully, and expect faster replenishment without losing shelf impact.

Application beats raw scale

Bajaj is direct about the mindset he believes the platform is built for. It is not aimed at converters chasing pure tonnage. It is aimed at converters looking for a niche where the margin story is stronger than the volume story.

“Application led,” he says. “We are not scale driven because we are not high volume production. We are helping converters find that niche where they can improve their bottom line with better margin.” That is also why Bajaj pushes back against the industry’s obsession with speed.

The Universal 850 runs at 200 to 300 metres per minute, but for certain applications the speed is deliberately lowered to protect process stability. “For some applications we have to go down to 150 metres per minute,” he says, citing water-based coatings for food-related applications. “Like I said we are not in the scale market. We are in the value-add market.”

Moving shrink to offset

If there is one application Bajaj repeatedly uses to explain the commercial logic, it is shrink film. “Shrink film is traditionally produced on rotogravure and now we are moving shrink film jobs to offset,” he says. The advantage, he argues, is not only quality, but the cost structure behind getting the job on press.

The core promise is lower origination cost, combined with print quality that can outperform rotogravure and flexo for specific demands. It is a statement that will interest converters who are under pressure to deliver premium graphics while also managing shorter runs and faster changeovers.

Bajaj also notes that web offset has a small market share in flexible packaging today, and the company’s strategy is to grow that share in the short to medium run space.

Hybrid in one pass

The Universal 850 is also being sold as a hybrid platform, not a single-process press. Bajaj describes it as a web-based solution that can bring multiple processes and modules into one workflow. “It brings you all the advantages of having a web solution - hybrid technologies of offset, flexo, digital or rotogravure,” he says, adding that converters can integrate foiling, lamination, inkjet and variable data printing inline.

The underlying benefit is simple. Fewer passes, fewer handoffs, fewer opportunities for variation. For converters operating in premium packaging, where design complexity is rising and delivery windows are shrinking, the idea of doing more in one pass becomes less of a nice-to-have and more of a production requirement.

Engineering challenges

Every new platform has one stubborn engineering problem that refuses to behave. For Bajaj, one of the biggest challenges is repeat change. In gravure and flexo, repeat flexibility is easier to achieve. In web offset, it becomes a more demanding design task. Bajaj says, “The toughest was the size repeat change,” he says. “We had to buildnew sleeves which are lightweight, low cost of change and long-term durability.”

The press uses aluminium sleeves with bearers, and Bajaj positions this as a long- life alternative to carbon fibre sleeves commonly used in flexo systems. “Our sleeves have been running for 10 years without a problem,” he says, adding that the company also holds a patent around the bearer design.

Automation that pays back

Bajaj is careful not to sell automation as a buzzword. He frames it as a direct response to waste, repeatability, and the reality that skilled operators are becoming harder to find. “Automatic ink key control is very important,” he says, pointing to the complexity of managing a wide press. “The wider press, we have 32 keys per print unit into seven. So, almost 300 keys to adjust. This is now fully automatic.”

The benefit is not convenience. It is time, repeatability, and less dependence on manual adjustment. He also highlights closed loop colour control as a key development area, describing it as a way to reduce waste and prevent operators from constantly chasing colour variation during production.

Colour control gets smarter

One of the new developments Bajaj flags is auto colour correction, which he describes as a first-time launch for this platform. “We are working with Baldwin to put an inline spectrophotometer to have a close loop colour control,” he says. He then goes a step further, outlining how the company is applying AI principles to make the press more predictive.

Offset, he notes, has an ink-water balance challenge, and the goal is to move from reacting to changes to anticipating them. “We want to predict it in time and to be able to pre-empt the change,” says Bajaj. “We would like to be proactive rather than reactive.”

For converters, the implication is clear. The more the press can stabilise colour without constant operator intervention, the more reliable it becomes as a production platform across varying conditions.

Stability across temperature swings

Bajaj brings the conversation down to the realities of running offset in the real world, where temperature shifts across a day can be dramatic, and not every market runs air-conditioned pressrooms. “When the winter was eight degrees, summer is 40 degree. The ink water balance becomes critical,” he says, describing how ambient conditions can push offset systems out of stability if not managed properly.

His answer is engineering discipline. Ink batteries and oscillators are chilled to maintain constant viscosity and temperature, and the next step is to move from open-loop control to closed-loop control with sensors and automated chiller management. The goal is to keep performance consistent, regardless of weather changes, shift length, or operator behaviour.

Handling films and board

The Universal 850 is positioned as a platform capable of handling substrates from 12 micron films to heavier board grades. Bajaj describes two separate challenges. On thinner films, the press must manage creasing and wrinkling risks. That requires tension stability and design changes such as idler rollers with grooves, especially during ramp-up and ramp-down.

On carton and heavier materials, the approach shifts to higher diameter idler rollers to support stable handling. Bajaj notes that the platform is being built with modularity in mind, allowing converters to configure the press to suit the application rather than forcing every job through a fixed architecture.

Process mix by design

The advantage of a hybrid platform is not having every process available. It is knowing which process should do what. Bajaj lays it out clearly. “For all the half-tones you should use offset, for all the varnishing coating you should use flexo, for the metallics you should use a rotogravure,” he says.

The point is not to throw every effect at every job. It is to build a process mix that fits the application and keeps the work-flow efficient. This also ties into the company’s modular approach. A gravure unit may not be necessary for every configuration, but it can be added if a converter’s application mix demands it.

Changeovers in minutes

Bajaj describes sleeve technology as central to performance, not only in print quality but also in changeover discipline. The sleeves are now pneumatically locked, reducing operator dependence and ensuring constant pressure. It also prevents damage that can occur when locking is done mechanically with variable force.

He says sleeve changes can be completed in under two minutes with a quick-change trolley, and the company is working on a larger trolley format to streamline the swap process even further. For converters, this matters because changeovers are often where planned productivity collapses. A press can be fast on paper and slow in reality if tooling change is inconsistent.

Inspection for compliance

Bajaj’s view on inspection is shaped by compliance realities, especially in food and pharma. He describes circumferential and transversal registration control as standard, and positions 100% defect detection as essential in workflows where missing data can lead to serious penalties. He shares an example from pharma leaflets, where a missing print incident triggered a major fine. In his telling, the lesson is that compliance is not theoretical. It is operational, and it can become expensive overnight.

The Universal 850, he says, uses defect detection cameras to check each label, each package, and each product for missing text and print defects automatically.

Energy savings by design

Energy is one of Bajaj’s strongest arguments, and he frames it at the machine design level rather than only through consumables. The press uses optimised motors, with individual motors for individual operations. The logic is that unused operations should not consume energy. He also points to drying as the biggest energy load, and positions water-cooled LED as the lowest consumption route for curing.

A major shift, he says, is moving from hot air drying to near infra-red (NIR) drying. “NIR uses 40% of the power,” he says. “If a hot air dryer was using 100 kilo-watts, we are only using 40 kilowatts.” Bajaj claims the total connected load is 60% lower than a conventional press, and suggests actual consumption will be lower still. He says the company has com- parative calculations and can share them.

Food packaging next frontier

Looking ahead, Bajaj says the company is watching food packaging closely, particularly direct food contact applications where UV use faces scrutiny in some markets. “We need to find a solution to be able to make food grade packaging with or without UV,” he says, pointing to research around alternative curing systems, including E-beam.

He acknowledges that E-beam brings higher capital cost and limited ink availability, but sees it as part of the direction the market is moving in. Solvent, he argues, is under pressure due to sustainability and recycling concerns, and the industry will need viable alternatives.

Bajaj notes that E-beam curing is already present in India, with 30–40 CI flexo presses running E-beam. He adds that UFlex alone operates 10 E-beam lines. Pet food, he suggests, is one segment where converters have had to adopt stricter curing choices, since direct contact and aggressive conditions can rule out UV entirely.

The uncomfortable ROI question

The Universal 850 platform, Bajaj says, can be three times the price of an equivalent flexo press from Europe. The only way to justify it is to build a disciplined ROI model around savings, waste reduction, repeatability, and the margin opportunity from the right applications. “You need to really work on your ROI numbers on how you can save and how you can justify the additional capital,” he says.

It is a blunt conclusion, but it matches the overall message. The Universal 850 is not being sold as a press that replaces everything. It is being positioned as a platform that gives converters a new lane, where the economics of short to medium runs can finally work without compromising quality, compliance, or efficiency.