FEATURES

During the Media Expo 2026 held from 9-11 April 2026 in Mumbai, one resonant theme was how India’s print shops are ditching vinyl to embrace scalability, high-value applications, and a quiet sustainability revolution. PrintWeek reports

Printed books are here to stay, despite all doomsday predictions

From Bengaluru to Varanasi, print entrepreneurs are blending digital muscle with handcrafted precision to build resilient, high-value businesses. Vimal Parmar’s principles capture the mindset driving India’s print renaissance.

Naresh Khanna moderates a conversation with the next generation of print leaders, revealing a cohort that is not just inheriting businesses but actively reshaping them through technology, systems thinking and a sharper view of global competition

Even accurate MIS estimates can fail on the shop floor, here’s why: Madan Singh of Pentaforce / Countwonder writes for PrintWeek

At the AIFMP-PressIdeas hosted Masterclass on Printing (MCOP) webinar held on 7 March 2026 and moderated by Amit Shah of Spectrum Scan, industry leaders, including Suhas Kulkarni, Ranesh Bajaj, Manish Desai, Harveer Sahni and Anuj Bhargava outline how technology, sustainability and shifting demand patterns are reshaping India’s label industry. A PrintWeek report

The Paper Traders Association (PTA) Mumbai recently organised an insightful and engaging industry visit for its members to Jani Sales and Sejal Glass. Hiren Karia, president, PTA Mumbai, writes about the experience

With mandatory serialised QR codes under the deposit refund scheme, Preeti Mishra of Holosafe Security Labels outlines the production, inspection, and data challenges facing label printers

As Goa’s deposit refund scheme accelerates demand for serialised QR codes, Jetsci Global’s Neeraj Sharma explains why inkjet systems, inspection tools, and data integration are critical for converters

As scheme operator for Goa’s deposit refund system, Recykal’s Vikram Prabakar explains how QR-based serialisation, data infrastructure, and real-time tracking manage the full lifecycle of packaging

Kridwinn Innovations’ Dinesh Thakur says existing inkjet systems with integrated DRS software enable converters to adopt serialised QR code printing with minimal investment

A survey by PrintWeek which evaluated responses from 141 industry icons shows what a majority of the industry aims to do in their factories. Noel D'Cunha and Rahul Kumar report

In a world of seven-second decisions, packaging determines whether a product is noticed, understood or ignored. Anoop Venugopalan explains why it is the most powerful, yet underused, business tool

India's print industry closed 2025 essentially where it started, revenues flat at INR 259-billion, yet underneath that calm surface, advertising and circulation are pulling in opposite directions, and publishers are racing to adapt before the divergence becomes a rupture

PrintWeek’s Digital Print Awards, introduced this year, aim to bring boutique digital print firms from Tier-2 and Tier-3 businesses into the national spotlight, focusing on execution, innovation and real-world impact. Are you ready to showcase your achievements and join the leaders of the print industry?

Why Pulkit Chhaparia believes niche focus is the only defence in a de-globalising packaging world

Speaking at Print and Beyond 2025 in Kochi, P Sajith reframes print as a geography business. With 2.5 billion textbooks printed annually, smartphone exports crossing 30-billion dollars, and digital enabling hyper localisation, the industry must choose its distance with care

Speaking at the Print and Beyond 2026 seminar in Kochi on 28 February, Preeti Mishra of Holosafe Security Labels decodes operational rigour, brand protection, variability and why systems will define the next decade of print in India

By producing better quality and competitively priced paper domestically, imports will decrease, which will automatically increase domestic demand

India is seeing a steady rise in digital print businesses built around shorter runs, more SKUs (multiple titles), personalisation, and tighter delivery windows. This is no longer a niche behaviour — it’s the operating model

The news, when it surfaced, felt less like a police report and more like a betrayal ripped straight from the soul of the nation. In Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, 15,000 government-supplied textbooks — books meant to be the free, priceless keys to a future for poor children — were sold by the very teachers entrusted with their distribution. The price? Four rupees per kilo. Let that sink in. The future of a thousand children, sold for less than the price of a cup of tea.

At Heidelberg’s Networking Summit in Mumbai on 29 January, brand owners and packaging service providers debate how print packaging now anchors identity, trust and value across retail, eCommerce and quick commerce, and why the pack has moved from a support act to a brand instrument

Ranesh Bajaj explains why the company is betting on lower origination cost, inline hybrid capability, and energy-efficient drying to build a new offset opportunity in packaging. Noel D’Cunha reports

Rakhi Joya is the management executive at the Institute of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers of India (IPMMI)

The FB-Line from Nilpeter delivers fast set-ups, accurate register, and multi-substrate capability, Manish Kapoor from Nilpeter India tells Rahul Kumar

The decision to invest in the Masterwork Easymatrix 106 C was driven by the need to strengthen capacity and efficiency, says RD Nayak of Bengaluru-based Nice Prints

PrintWeek’s Forty Under 40 list recognises and celebrates the exceptional achievements of young professionals in the print and packaging industry in India. These rising stars have transformed the industry through innovative ideas, technical expertise, and a commitment to excellence

Namita Sharma is the marketing and communications lead at Ace Technologies Group

Multitec’s latest launch, the S3S, represents a breakthrough in India’s flexographic printing landscape as the country’s first and only sleeve-based mid-web flexo platform, Amit Ahuja of Multitec tells Rahul Kumar

Inspired by ABBA’s Money, Money, Money, we enter the world of global and national economics, finance, and how policies make or break the market. Essential reads to understand the rich man’s world.

The existential struggle of a language is rarely fought on a grand battlefield. More often, it is lost quietly, in dwindling circulation figures and the unnervingly empty aisles of a city bookshop. In Maharashtra, the great Marathi language — a tongue with a two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old tradition — is engaged in precisely such a skirmish. The recent 99th All India Marathi Literary Conference in Satara, framed by President Vishwas Patil as an "emergency summit," was not a celebration of letters, but a confrontation with the "terrifying silence" of a vanishing reader

Madan Singh, founder of Pentaforce Printing Software, explains how dashboards are a visibility illusion and what print shops need to do about it

The India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is poised to be less of a celebratory moment and more of a strategic confrontation for the Indian paper and pulp sector. Read on...

The India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is poised to be less of a celebratory moment and more of a strategic confrontation for the Indian paper and pulp sector. Read on...

From fostering AI adoption to promoting green technologies, the Regional Institute of Printing Technology Alumni Association (RIPTAA) is helping West Bengal’s printers evolve through education, collaboration, and innovation. In an eMail interaction, president Surendra Dhote tells Noel D’Cunha how the association is bridging tradition and technology

Koji Miyao, president, Ricoh graphic communications BU and corporate officer, Ricoh Company, who was in India recently, talks about Pamex and Ricoh’s plans for India

Industry sees technology and input cost gains, but experts warn exports to Europe remain a stretch and imports may favour EU mills

The last two Labelexpo shows — Labelexpo Europe and Labelexpo Asia 2025 — demonstrated how core label converting technologies have been adapted to open up new opportunities in the flexible packaging and folding carton markets. Andy Thomas-Emans, strategic director at LOUPE Global, Informa Markets, explains

Manish Desai says the investment in Rotatek Universal 850 is aimed at new applications and global customers, backed by a production model built for speed and consistency

The Pamex show (27 to 30 January) has closed its doors, but the real story—as always—wasn’t on the main thoroughfare. It was in the back rooms, over lukewarm cups of chai, and converters signing on the dotted line. Read on...

Rising demand for faster turnaround, personalisation and lower inventory risk is pushing on-demand printing into the mainstream, as businesses across publishing, packaging, retail and marketing rethink traditional bulk production models

The Duplo DDC-810 spot UV coater is positioned as a compact and accessible entry point into digital embellishment for commercial and packaging printers. Designed for short- to medium-run work, the system adds texture and visual contrast through selective gloss UV varnishing, creating definition and depth on printed substrates.

As we enter a new year, PrintWeek editors look at the market and suggest six trends that will play an important role in 2026

TechNova unveiled the Founder EagleJet S330 sheetfed inkjet press at Pamex 2026, positioning it for short- to medium-run commercial and publishing applications that require consistent quality and predictable productivity.

Pamex never fails to throw up new options, says Dinesh Gada, director of Pune-based Star Copiers

As brand owners demand faster launches and more SKU variations, converters are rethinking their production mix. Epson India’s S Prabagaran explains how on-demand digital printing is emerging as the key to managing short runs, reducing waste and building a more agile and profitable workflow

The Adonis negative thermal CTP plate is developed by TechNova in technical collaboration with Agfa. Adonis is designed for long-run commercial and packaging print applications, particularly with UV inks.

Jay Raj Fine Paper has put up one of the most colourful stalls at Pamex 2026, where the company has found an innovative way to display the range of its papers in different colours, covering the entire spectrum, from black to white, with everything in between, from pink to yellow.

For Mehta, the printing inks industry is less a sector of commerce and more a “lab of constant, high-stakes evolution.”

At DinoLabelDigital, premium labels are built through process rather than embellishment. Neha Jain, director at Great Eastern IDTech, explains how a digital-first production model combining CMYK plus white printing, web-to-print workflows, and plate-free manufacturing is enabling brands to balance visual impact, speed, and sustainability

As Pamex 2026 readies to open, in the fourth and final column, Tushar Dhote, chairman, Pamex 2026 previews the inauguration ceremony and reflects on what the show represents for Indian printers, from innovation and investment to collaboration across the industry

Leonard Fernandes, co-founder of CinnamonTeal Publishing and organiser of PublishingNext, returned from a short visit to New Delhi and Chennai, where he attended the book fairs in both cities, and said the energy on the ground continued to challenge any narrative around the decline of books

Indian printing factories track OEE, AI and automation, but productivity stalls. The real issue is time visibility and real-time loss detection on the shop floor

Across books, labels and packaging, the Indian print industry is no longer responding to trends defined elsewhere. Instead, it is reshaping what trends mean by allowing printing technologies to leapfrog applications, compress timelines, and dissolve old boundaries between scale, craft and creativity. PrintWeek's Book of Trends captures this shift not as a forecast, but as evidence, as PrintWeek team finds out

In this column, Tushar Dhote, chairman, Pamex 2026 shares insights from his visit to Seshaasai Technologies and explains why print’s next growth wave will be driven by integration, data, and automation

As we step into 2026, PrintWeek examines how industry leaders responded to shifting demand, rising operational complexity, and margin pressure in the year gone by. In this Sunday Column, eight CEOs reflect on value creation, technology choices, and the decisions that defined performance across the year. Read on….

In his second column, Tushar Dhote, chairman, Pamex 2026 argues that as print becomes more data-driven and competitive, Pamex 2026 must go beyond static showcases and help businesses make informed technology choices

COP30 marked a shift from climate ambition to execution, with direct implications for the print and packaging sector. For Indian printers and converters, sustainability is moving from compliance rhetoric into commercial reality.

As we step into 2026, PrintWeek examines how industry leaders responded to shifting demand, rising operational complexity, and margin pressure in the year gone by. In this Sunday Column, eight CEOs reflect on value creation, technology choices, and the decisions that defined performance across the year. Read on….

In his first column of 2026, Tushar Dhote, chairman, Pamex 2026, reflects on the momentum building across India’s print and packaging industry and explains why Pamex 2026 arrives at a pivotal moment for technology, investment, and sustainable growth

Interacting with PrintWeek, Vasily Burmistrov, director of LaserEcoClean, shares how the patented Single Small Spot Scan technology is capable of vaporising ink at 400°C without ever reaching the 1,500°C ceramic melting point. By replacing cumulative heat with targeted precision, the solution eliminates the mirror effect of bridge melting, preserves ink volume, and provides the 1000x diagnostic proof required to protect and extend the life of anilox rollers.

Noel D'Cunha's Sunday Column is a popular read for the Indian print industry. He penned 52 columns in 2025. In this Sunday Column, we select those which were the most discussed and debated

Hydro Chem's portfolio supports a range of applications, including alcohol-free printing, high-speed newspaper production, premium commercial work, book printing, folding carton packaging, and pharmaceutical printing, says Mukteshwar Velaga, CEO, Hydro Chem Industries.

Varanasi entrepreneur Purushottam Todi’s journey reflects a deep passion for preserving memories through print in a rapidly changing industry.

Ajit Surana of Holoflex explains how Flexibiz ERP helps gain visibility, strengthen traceability and costing, and manage multi stage holography and label production on one platform

The UV portfolio from UFlex Chemicals Business delivers compatibility, customisation, sustainability, LED efficiency, versatility on paper/films and global competitiveness, supported by technical service, says Rajesh Srivastava of UFlex.

A quiet revolution is underway, with zines taking over art festivals, libraries, and pop-up spaces. Jiya Somaiya speaks to zine artists to understand a modest zine’s role in publishing.

From lamination cracks to signature mix-ups, India’s book value chain put its worst mistakes on the table at Bindwel’s annual roundtable. Treya Sinha reports on a session that reframed failure as the starting point for better craft.

Noel D'Cunha's Sunday Column is a popular read for the Indian print industry. He penned 52 columns in 2025. In this Sunday Column, we select those which were the most discussed and debated

The message was clear: short-run flexible packaging is not only possible on flexo — it can be highly profitable, Amit Ahuja of Multitec tells Rahul Kumar.

Driven by packaging growth, the paper mills face margin pressure from high wood costs, cheap imports, and GST issues. Players are investing to tap into future demand. Prabhat Prakash reports

The paper, print, and print packaging industries in India are distinct sectors, each with its own operations, challenges, and market drivers. However, they are interconnected by paper, which is the output for the paper industry and an essential input for printing and packaging. This interdependence necessitates a shared understanding of each industry’s challenges, strategies, and growth paths to establish a common roadmap for survival and growth.

From a modest 1,500-sq ft rented shed in Guntur in 2008 to a turnover of INR 24 crore in 2025, Universal Print Systems (UPS), under the leadership of managing partner Pamarthi Subba Rao, has charted a growth story centred on security printing, technology, and team expertise.

This Green Report reveals how Indian converters are shifting from compliance driven initiatives to strategic sustainability programmes that cut waste, save energy and reshape plant culture

Narendra Kulkarni reflects on the Gallus journey and the new shape of digital and hybrid printing

Kai Buentemeyer discusses the basics of books, emphasising the need for quality and a commonsensical approach to bookbinding.

Marcus Greenbrook of GEW explains how AeroLED2, ArcLED upgrades and DoseGuard accuracy shape a more sustainable curing roadmap

Through intelligent algorithms, AI has transformed the industrial printing floor from a space of constant supervision to one of constant innovation, Manish Gupta of Konica Minolta Business, writes in this exclusive piece for PrintWeek

Dario Urbinati of Gallus outlines how the company redefines hybrid and digital printing with its latest industrial solutions

TP Jain of Monotech Systems highlights how traceability and embellishment technologies are driving smarter, value-added growth for converters in a transforming label market TP Jain of Monotech Systems highlights how traceability and embellishment technologies are driving smarter, value-added growth for converters in a transforming label market

Martin Teilberg of Nilpeter talks about Nilpeter’s FA-26 and FA-17 showcase as converters chase agile production

Arnon Goldman of HP Indigo outlines how Indian converters are driving the global shift toward agile, automated and sustainable label and packaging production through advanced digital tech

In an exclusive interview, Chaitya Dhanvi Shah, curator and managing director, DRS Arts Company, speaks about Husain @ 110 – an exhibition showcasing Husain’s 110 printmaking editions.

Taruna Garg of NBG Printographic outlines how precision engineering, service, and collaboration are powering the company’s Starflex flexo presses toward global growth

On a quest to redefine publishing, Naveen Valsakumar, in 2012, founded Notion Press, a global platform for aspiring writers, which allows authors to take control of their intellectual property.

The High Drip Master, with new formulations and upgraded features, stands out. So says Sankoch Gaur of SASG UV Solutions to Rahul Kumar

Ramit Goyal, director, Goyal Offset Works, shares his reasons behind the investment in a Heidelberg Speedmaster SX 102 eight-colour perfector

The ease-of-use and fast operation of the Casemaker DA 260 from Kolbus make it an attractive investment proposition, Deepak Walia, managing director, Manroland Sheetfed India, tells Rahul Kumar.

Labelexpo Europe 2025 breaks attendance records as industry prepares for a wider packaging future. An industry overview by Noel D’Cunha

Labelexpo Europe 2025 showcased a label industry in transition, driven by sustainability, automation and hybrid printing, with India emerging as one of the fastest-advancing markets shaping global strategies.

Durst’s leadership team outlines how growth, automation and sustainability define its next phase of innovation

Ajay Raorane of Domino Printech India outlines how the N730i demonstrates speed, flexibility and partnership-driven innovation for converters

Sameer Singla of Archroma Packaging Technologies outlines how specialty chemistry is driving circularity and performance in labels and packaging

Noel D’Cunha is a managing editor at PrintWeek and WhatPackaging?

Grant Schutte, vice president of Actega North America Technologies, believes Signite is not just another incremental innovation but a complete rethink of pressure-sensitive labelling. In conversation with Noel D’Cunha, he explains how this new transfer-based system eliminates matrix waste, cuts CO₂ emissions, and enables design freedom that could redefine the way labels are made and applied.

Manu Choudhury is busy retooling his book manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad through lean processes and digital transparency. Noel D’Cunha spends time at CDC’s newest facility

Asia’s paper packaging industry stands at a pivotal juncture, poised for robust growth to USD 230.98-billion by 2030, fuelled by heightened sustainability requirements and shifts in consumer expectations. Within this rapidly evolving landscape, Actega’s Paper & Board strategy is distinguished by its deep understanding of the region’s diversity, harnessing China’s scale, India’s agility, and the spirit of innovation across Southeast Asia to create powerful regional momentum. In this interview, Actega's newly appointed paper and board business line manager for Asia, Rajiv Singh, examines the key

Ahmedabad’s industrial hub witnessed a different kind of energy on 2 September 2025, as Arrow Digital opened the doors of its Innovation Centre for Printscape 2025: Innovation in Motion. Organised in association with Canon and Fotoba, the day-long event drew a crowd of print entrepreneurs, interior designers, technology suppliers, and media representatives.

Digital printing is quietly reshaping how India’s small businesses brand, scale and compete. In an interaction with PrintWeek during the Labelexpo Europe 2025 in Barcelona, A Appadurai, country manager, Indigo and inkjet business solutions, HP India, explains how packaging is emerging as a decisive growth enabler

Umang Gupta is the country head of RX India, a leader in events and exhibitions, leveraging industry expertise, data, and technology to build businesses for individuals, communities, and organisations

In a discussion during Labelexpo Europe 2025 in Barcelona, Simon Buswell, UK-based Eco Flexibles sales and marketing director, reveals how the company has revolutionised short-run flexible packaging with Fujifilm’s Jet Press FP790, fusing digital precision and a bold commitment to sustainability

Central to the expansion is the addition of two Komori 440 sheetfed machines, enhancing Print Vision’s ability to deliver precision and efficiency at scale.