Kao Chimigraf’s first time participation at Media Expo

Inkjet and eco-solvent inks to support Indian manufacturers and printers

243
Kao Chimigraf’s first participation at Media Expo
Business consultant India, Namrata Sharma's availability at Kao Chimigraf stand Photo IPP

Kao Chimigraf is a global Japanese company that has been active in the European and American inkjet market for more than 15 years. Showing interest in the Indian inkjet and signage market, Kao aims to be a responsive partner to the Indian customers’ requirements that understands the market’s needs and is willing to provide quality and robust inks with a reliable supply chain. In its first time participation at Media Expo in Greater Noida the company showcased its inkjet and EcoSolvent inks.

Media Expo, an international trade exhibition for indoor and outdoor advertising and signage solutions, took place from 18 to 20 November at the India Expo Mart. It was the live face to face  trade show for the printing industry after 20 months of the Covid-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns. 

Kao Chimigraf received positive response at Media Expo

At the Kao stand, we met Namrata Sharma, responsible for business consulting in India, who told us about the company’s variety of inks used by the signage industry. One of the exhibitors Unique Sign Innovations is already a user of Kao inks for their their flatbed inkjet printers and was demonstrating these on its stand at the Media Expo.

Samples showed by Kao Chimigraf at the stand
Samples showed by Kao Chimigraf at the stand

Sharma explained, “This is the first time Kao Chimigraf, a sister company of Kao Corporation in Japan and Kao Collins in the US, is participating at the Media Expo for introducing its inks in the exhibition. The idea was to tell people that Kao inks are available in India and the manufacturers should buy these as our inks are accepted globally as being of excellent quality. Additionally these are manufactured by Kao Chimigraf from scratch and run will almost every inkjet head that is used in by the signage industry.”

“At this exhibition, we have received several queries and are pleasantly surprised to see that the industry’s visitors are showing keen interest in our inks and want to try them. It is good to see that Media Expo has done a great job in informing the signage printers and the advertising industry about this exhibition and inviting them to the show.”

Sharma concluded by saying, “The time are changing, and the growing industry is increasingly embracing manufacturing of wide format signage printers. They are trying to develop new kinds of printers for different segments and markets, so the printing industry is going to grow in these specialized sectors. And, the most surprising thing in this exhibition is that we have people from the label and packaging industry, this shows that inkjet is being promoted and there is lots of scope in the coming years. What we exactly need to do is to come together and work on improving the quality, developing the market, and supporting the Indian manufacturers for more production.” 

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

Subscribe Now

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here