From L-R Vikas Bhatt, co-owner Print Mart, Atul Bhatt, co-owner PrintMart, and Jatin Malik from Print Mart with samples printed on the Fujifilm Revoria in the background.
Run by brothers Atul Bhatt and Vikas Bhatt, Print Mart, originally based out of Pitampura in New Delhi, recently opened a new office in the same locality. Print Mart has flagship stores at Patparganj, Kamla Nagar, and Okhla, out of a total of 24 stores. The first Fujifilm Revoria Press PC 1120 was installed at Print Mart’s newly-constructed office on Dhanteras.
Vikas Bhatt from Print Mart said at the Revoria launch, “We have recently completed a month of commercial production with the Fujifilm Revoria PC 1120 which has been phenomenal. In a month, we have produced close to 105 lakh pages out of which 40% are in the colors – pink, white, gold, and silver. We have always been a flag bearer in the digital arena in the Delhi NCR region and would like to continue in the special color segment as well.”
Atul Bhatt added that they had received a photo book assignment from the administration of the Union Territory of Ladakh around Diwali the peak festive season in the country. While taking care of the upcoming print shop in Pitampura the brothers ended up printing the photo book on the Fujifilm Revoria. The Bhatt brothers said that the client was so impressed with the outcome that he insisted the second installment also be printed on the new press at Pitampura.
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.
