Palm Printz, located in Bengaluru, is a specialized high quality printer who supplies tag and packaging material mainly to the garment industry, using all technologies such as silk screen, digital and offset presses. Silk screen printing is done with semi-automatic
Grafica and other machines while variable data printing and short-run labels and tags are printed on several Xerox digital presses.
Palm also has an in-house microfluting unit for litho-laminated cartons for the garment and liquor industry. In addition, it produces luxury packaging hard boxes for accessories such as wallets and belts. The company’s clients include major garment manufactures such as
Allen Solly, Van Heusen and Louis Philippe.
Palm Printz already has a wellequipped small format Komori 4-color offset press and a
double color RMGT (Ryobi) press. While both of these presses were purchased second-hand, the company is now at a stage of growth where a brand new larger format press, with the capability of printing efficiently on board, was required. Thus, the recent purchase of a KBA Rapida 75 color is seen by Palm Printz’s owner N Murlidharan as a first major modernization step in a plan that sees him moving to a larger plant in the future. The 4-color Rapida 75 ordered by him features an IR dryer for hot air curing and is planned to be installed in Q1 of FY 18-19 – most likely in end-April or mid-May. Murlidharan says that he
evaluated all the multicolor offset presses available but was convinced by what he describes as, “KBA’s leadership in the board packaging market both in India and globally.”
He was also largely motivated to buy a new KBA press because of its reliability and the structured and professional company-driven service backup that he feels is necessary for
his continued growth and success in supplying to major global garment brand owners.
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.
– Naresh Khanna
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