At Pamex 2017, HP India dedicated most of its stand space to a variety of applications that have used its digital technologies. In addition to these applications, HP also displayed
Indigo 12000 and Indigo 7900 at the show.
Speaking to Indian Printer & Publisher, A Appadurai, country manager – Indigo and Inkjet
Web Press, Graphics Solutions Business, HP said that almost 80% of stand space has been dedicated to various applications in commercial, photo and packaging segments since
these are what have a real impact on visitors as they get to see live examples of what HP technology is capable of.
Talking about HP’s performance last year (for HP the business year runs from November to October), Appadurai shared that the hardware sales were significantly affected due to demonetization.
“Photo segment is HP’s biggest market in India and that industry is heavily cash driven.
So, demonetization has had a big impact on hardware sales,” he shared. However, he said that in the digital commercial printing space, the volumes of printed pages grew in double digits. “I believe the reason for this growth in digital print volumes is that during times
of uncertainty, the print lengths get shorter.”
Packaging segment grew 300%
Although the double axe of demonetization and GST has had an impact on HP’s hardware sales to the photo and digital commercial segments, the company’s installations in packaging business have seen a solid growth of almost 300%.
“The growth that we have seen in the packaging space in India has been driven by many factors. Brands are focusing on targeted marketing campaigns and there is a shift towards premiumization and customization,” Appadurai said, adding that another significant factor that has driven sales in the packaging segment is that brands are now asking printers to adopt digital technology.
Finally, talking about the plans for the next few months, he said that HP will very shortly announce some major installations in the packaging segment.
“There are some exciting and big announcements lined up before the year 2017 is out,” he concluded.
