Okhla-based Pearl Printers recently installed a new RMGT 920ST-4 printing press. The two-decade-old company offers a range of offset printing and post-printing solutions across a number of domains including education and retail. Pearl’s specialized publishing services include catalogs, brochures, pamphlets, flyers and newsletters in hard copy and electronic formats.
“I believe, the modus operandi should be to provide quality to the customers. The market so far, as one may observe, is focused on quality. Creativity, innovation and cost-effective services stand in line with the client’s demand for quality. Setting quality as a base always helps to gain more customers,” said Ashwani Thapar, proprietor of Pearl Printers.
Pearl has a specialized in-house fabrication unit where sewing, cutting, folding and many other post-print operations are undertaken. “Our business was briefly affected by the GST as there were some problems for us and our clients to understand the new tax regime. There was a decline in demand as well for some time. The market should return to normalcy in the next six months. In fact, we installed the new RMGT post GST observing the market’s recovery. We hope this decision turns out to be a good one in the coming days,” he added.
Pearl installed an (Ryobi) RMGT 4-color sheetfed offset press with coater in 2015. Observing its performance and output, it decided to install another RMGT. The new 4-color offset press with LED curing can print up to 15,000 sheets an hour on sheet sizes up to 640 x 940 mm. The LED unit allows one-pass instant-curing and perfecting. The company has always been on the lookout for new machines in the market that can offer better print quality at greater speeds.
The company has two 5-color Heidelberg presses in addition to a single-color and a 2-color Heidelberg. In 2016, the company installed a Kodak Trendsetter platesetter. “We mostly undertake coffee-table book projects. Our focus is more towards the commercial printing segment. We also print magazines and try to take up as many challenging and innovative projects as possible. We believe in job work as that alone yields a large part of our profits,” Thapar concluded.
Pearl has around 200 clients, most of whom are ad agencies.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels 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. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
