Educationist Indu Shahani delivering the keynote address at Print Summit 2018
Print Summit 2019 is back to the South-Mumbai address of NCPA after the 2018 edition was held at Nehru Centre in Worli. Nehru Centre was a brand new venue for the event which had been taking place at NCPA’s Tata Theatre for a long time.
The 2019 edition, to be held on 24 January, is being supported by Canon, Koenig & Bauer and ITC-PSPD. The three are accompanied by Toyo Ink, HuberGroup, Srinivas Papers, TechNova Imaging Systems, Jani Sales, AutoPrint Machinery, Ample Graphics (Imaging Systems), Pratham Technologies, Fujifilm Sericol India and Impel-Welbound. The 2019 event will have two brand new partners—Vinsak and ICP Industrial from the US.
The Bombay Master Printers’ Association (BMPA) has been organizing Print Summit since 2005 as celebration on the occasion of Printers’ Day annually. Over the years the organizers have consciously steered Print Summit away from being print-centric to a more holistic event with an eclectic choice of entertainment too.
This year, BK (Sister) Shivani, a renowned teacher from Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, will take the audience on a journey of awareness and realization.
Don Newberry, senior marketing manager, ICP Industrial will explore glossier margins (innovation in packaging through coatings) while Inder Kumar Arora, director, Chanakya Mudrak, will motivate printers to do business on merits of their terms.
Vivek Krishnani, managing director, Sony Pictures Entertainment India will deliver the keynote by talking on average being the normal.
Mehul Shah, founder, Encube Ethicals will talk on how lean manufacturing is possible and can be done in India. There will also be a panel discussion on ‘GOOD 2 GREAT’ with panel members consisting of Sunanada Jayseelan, editor and senior producer, Times Network; Arokiaswamy Velumani, managing director, Thyrocare Technologies Ltd.; Ankit Chona, managing director, HRPL – Havmor Restaurants & Huber & Holly, and Pawan Poddar, director, Ashirvad Pipes.
Animesh Kejriwal, founder and Pawan Bindal, co-founder, TimePay will discuss how real-time regular receivables make better bottomlines.
Henrik Mueller-Hansen, chief executive officer, Gelato will talk on disruptive changes in the print industry.
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.
