Parth Enterprises commissions Canon imagePRESS C910

Goregaon-based confronts bumpy recovery with expansion

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Parth
L to R: Hardik Sakpal (press operator at Parth), Parshuram Nigudkar (Parth), Sailee Nigudkar (Parth), Tushar Nagotkar (Fastprint) and Mihir Jha (Canon)

Located in the Bombay Wire Complex in Mumbai’s Goregaon East, Parth Enterprises specializes in the digital printing of brochures, leaflets, scratch cards, and visiting cards. It recently installed a brand-new Canon imagePRESS C910 supplied by Canon distributor Fastprint Technologies.

“We have been operating a Konica Minolta press for many years. When we were mulling over buying a new press, we thought why not go for different technology. That is why we bought the Canon imagePRESS C910. Now we are running both Canon and Konica Minolta digital presses,” says Parshuram Nigudkar, the owner of Parth Enterprises.

The imagePress C910 has a speed of 90 pages per minute and handles media up to 350 gsm at a resolution of 2400 dpi. Parth Enterprises has opted for the Efi Fiery version although Canon’s PRISMAsync Print Server Version 7 is also offered. 

Since its commissioning in early December, Parth has printed about 110,000 impressions on the new Canon press. The company’s plan is to initially print about 40,000 impressions per month and then scale it up to 50,000 to 60,000 impressions per month in the near future. “We are looking to increase the print volume in the next few months when the digital print market recovers from the impact of the Omicron wave,” says Nigudkar.

Talking about the experience of running the Canon press over the past two and half months, Nigudkar says that he has been extremely satisfied with the technology and the quality and especially the support from the company’s engineering team.  

Print recovery remains slow 

Mumbai’s print market was impacted by the Omicron wave that hit the city in late December 2021 and January of this year. Although the Covid-19 infection rates have been declining since the beginning of February, Mumbai’s businesses are to yet fully open their facilities and resume full operations. Many offices are still in work from home mode and not yet achieving 100% attendance while schools and colleges are also not back to the old normal. Nigudkar says the business recovery at Parth Enterprises has been slow.

“Almost all of our business comes from corporates. And since many of the offices have still not gone back to full attendance, for us the recovery has been bumpy. The months of November and December saw brisk business but the Omicron wave disrupted the operations around Christmas time. We are yet to get back to the November-December levels, let alone pre-Covid levels. We believe the full recovery will happen for us only when offices go back to full attendance. So, it is still some time away,” Nigudkar concludes. 

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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