The newly formed Kutchi Printers & Allied Industries Association held its first get-together on 6 October, in central Mumbai district of Matunga. The meeting was attended by members of the association as well as members of the media. IPAMA president Dayakar Reddy was the chief guest at the occasion. The Kutchi Printers & Allied Industries Association is an attempt to bring the members of industrious and entrepreneurial Kutchi community, which traces its roots to the Kutch region of Gujarat, who are involved in printing and related industries, together.
The association is made up of members involved in various types of printing activity such as offset printing, screen printing, textile printing, label printing, flexo printing, gravure printing as well as in activities such as graphic designing, materials trading and ink manufacturing, among others. At present there are close to 100 registered members of the association. Anil Gala of Navneet Publication is the president, Dinesh Gogari of Diamond Stickers is the vice president, Ketan Sanghvi of Shanti Art Works is the secretary and Vipin Shah of Commercial Packaging Services is the treasurer.
Speaking during the get-together, Gala said that there are multiple objectives behind formation of Kutchi Printers & Allied Industries Association, the most significant one being that of knowledge sharing among the Kutchi printing community. “By sharing knowledge about the latest trends and development in the printing and printing-related industries, we can help members of the Kutchi community who are involved in these businesses,” he said. The association also plans to conduct factory tours and industrial visits, exhibition visits both overseas and in India.
During his speech, Reddy congratulated the members for the formation of the association and said that he expects the number of members to rise in coming future. “According to my estimate there are about 370 printers from Kutchi community across India. The current membership of the Kutchi Printers & Allied Industries Association is about 100. I hope present members will encourage other Kutchi printers to join the association as well,” he said. Reddy also invited the association members to visit the Printpack 2019 exhibition. “I encourage everyone to visit Printpack 2019 as it is one of the world’s biggest events related to printing and packaging. This time about 80% exhibitors will be demonstrating machines at their stands,” Reddy said.
