As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022. It’s been a long time and we expect the show to be a mutual celebration of both the exhibitors and the visitors of the tough road of economic recovery and the role that our industry can play in it.
We hope that the Show Daily in print will again reflect many of the exhibitor offerings at the show and the welcome reactions of the visitors looking to get their businesses back on track.
The PrintPack India exhibition last held in January 2019 is being held from 26 to 30 May 2022 at its now normal venue, the Greater Noida Exhibition and Expo Centre. Organized by IPAMA the organization of the Indian manufacturers of print and packaging equipment it is the largest print-related show in the country and the forthcoming event with more than 400 exhibitors will be its 15th edition. The biennial event was to take place in 2021 but was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The few small shows that have taken place in the last quarter of 2021 just preceding the Omicron wave in December and January 2022 were big on enthusiasm. Everywhere printers and converters are keen not only to get back to business but to visit shows that are near them and which follow the guidelines for safe participation, although the pandemic has seemingly subsided in India.
Over 90% of the eligible adults have been vaccinated once and more than 75% have been vaccinated twice and a considerable number have received their booster dose. In addition, a large number of the younger demographic groups have been vaccinated while the vaccination drive moves to even younger school-going children in the next few weeks. Indian Covid-19 prevention compliance now encompasses approximately 2 billion vaccinations with the reported daily new active cases and deaths amongst the lowest in the world.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to the initial country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. What have we learned in these two long years? Perhaps the meaning of resilience, since the many small and medium-sized companies of our industry have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees. We have been helped by our customers and suppliers too – as we struggled to produce our deliverables.
The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.
