Ricoh’s new Indian distributor – Monotech Systems

New innings for both Ricoh and Monotech

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TP Jain Monotech|Ricoh’s new Indian distributor – Monotech Systems
TP Jain, managing director of Monotech Systems Photo Monotech

New Delhi, 29 March 2021 – The Indian distributor of graphic arts and packaging equipment Monotech Systems has taken on the distribution of Ricoh’s digital production print systems across India. According to Monotech, it will become the marketing, sales, distribution, and service partner for Ricoh’s production digital presses across the country.

 “With Monotech System’s strong local presence, I believe it will bring an increased range of coverage and strength of representation of Ricoh’s Digital Production Printing systems in the Indian market,” said Ricky Tan, general manager of the Production Printing Business Group in Ricoh Asia Pacific. “We can together collaborate helping customers enhance their digital capabilities with insight-driven and tailored solutions.” 

Ricky Tan Ricoh Asia Pacific
Ricky Tan, general manager of the Production Printing Business Group in Ricoh Asia Pacific

Despite the severe disruption of its Indian operations over the past five years, Ricoh’s products enjoy an important place in the global digital press market. Monotech Systems is one of the leading graphic arts distributors of a wide variety of imported equipment. As a distributor, it helped establish Konica Minolta as the Indian digital press market leader – a business relationship that it divested a few years ago. 

Monotech has become a manufacturer of inkjet-driven signage printers and digital label and book presses in the past few years. Until recently, it had also taken on the distribution of Xerox digital presses that it gave up approximately six months ago. 

“Team Monotech Systems is very excited about this relationship which is like playing a second inning after a highly successful first inning. It raises the bar for us, and we shall succeed with our commitment to offering products, solutions, and support that exceed customer expectations,” said TP Jain, the well-liked and respected managing director of Monotech Systems.

The two-decade-old Monotech enjoys the confidence of the publishing, printing, and packaging industry. It has a reasonably strong connection with users of digital printing, where at one time it built up a large workforce of technicians and engineers. It is fair to say that Ricoh has been under-represented in the Indian market for the past five years. Its strong product line-up from a familiar and reliable distributor presents a measure of reassurance for its installed base and future customers. One hopes it will also introduce a level of competition in the market and offer a more comprehensive technology choice to Indian printers. 

Ajeet Pareek Monotech
Ajeet Pareek, business head, Digital Products and Solutions, of Monotech Photo Monotech

Ajeet Pareek, business head, Digital Products and Solutions, of Monotech, said, “We are confident that the Ricoh product range will be a perfect fit for our existing and prospective customers. We are now able to provide our clients with more opportunities to differentiate themselves in their markets to deliver an extended range of capabilities and respond to growing expectations and demands. We will now have the most technologically advanced product portfolio, backed by superior sales and after-sales support.”

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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