Mumbai-based Hitech Systems, which deals in a variety of print finishing solutions from leading global brands, had a great first three days at Pamex 2020. The company was confident of closing the show on a high note, according to Parag Shah, chief executive officer of Hitech Systems.
“We sold machines worth Rs 1 crore over the first three days and by the end of the show, we expect to do business worth Rs 2.5 crore. We expect to sell close to 100 machines as we received over a 1000 inquiries during the show,” Shah said.
For the first time the company offered 18 months’ warranty on the machines, which were in the price range of Rs 10 lakhs plus. Hitech generally offers 12 months’ warranty on these products. The products on which Hitech offered extended warranty included Bacciottini (Italy) automatic creasing and perforation machines; Foliant (Czech Republic) – automatic thermal lamination machine; Iecho (China) – automatic digital die cutter with auto feeding; Verve mini – UV LED 3 x 5’; 450 SA (Czech) – desk top semi-automatic creasing/perforation machine; and Gemini die cutter (Italy) – desk top digital die cutter with auto feeder.
Besides the products mentioned above, Hitech offered a special Pamex scheme for the entire foil printing, paper cutter and binding machine range.
Talking about Pamex 2020, Shah said that this year’s edition was better than the previous one. “The second and the third day was extremely busy for us as we received many customers at our stand. Overall, Pamex 2020 was much better than its previous edition,” he commented.
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.
