PAMEX Guwahati Conference held concurrent with North-East Print Tech
The first promotional event of Pamex 2023 – a premier printing and allied industry exhibition to be held in Mumbai – started off in Guwahati with an interactive technical conference on 27November 2022.
Pamex was organized by the All India Federation of Master Printers, All Assam Press Owners’ Association, North East Print Tech, and Print-Packaging.com. The Conference was held parallel with the North East Print Tech Exhibition (NEPT) at Maniram Diwan Trade Centre, Guwahati.
The conference was inaugurated by Raveendra Joshi, president of AIFMP, Raghabendra N Dutta Baruah, general secretary of AIFMP & director of Seven Star Publications, Pranab Talukdar, president of North East Print Tech, Dibyajyoti Kalita, president of the All Assam Press Owners Association, and Anil Arora, president of Print-Packaging.com.
Pamex, where more than 170 delegates were present, aimed at discussing the benefits of applying ‘convergence’ in print. The panel discussion, held on the subject of ‘Emerging Trends- The Way Forward’, saw an in-depth discussion on what convergence means for them and how they went about leading it from the front.
The session was moderated by Raghabendra N. Dutta Baruah. The panelists included Mannu Choudhary of CDC Printers Kolkata, Jumi Deka Choudhary of Rumi Jumi Enterprises Guwahati, Raj Kamal Gohain of Innovia Packaging Solutions Guwahati, and Alok Hazarika of Konica Minolta, Kolkata.
The panel discussion was followed by a presentation from Aloke Hazarika on the ‘Future of Digital Printing’. Hazarika spoke about the adoption and extensive application of digital printing and shared his thoughts on practical steps toward growth and profitability.
Samarendra Dash Deputy General manager, Regional Sales – Digital & Offset Printing System, TechNova Imaging System, spoke on ‘The Next Opportunities In Print.’ Talking about enhancing offset and integrating digital, he presented 3D technology as something to look forward to.
Other presentations included those by Vikas Verma of Digital Products & Solutions, Monotech Systems Limited, and Surendra Dhote, Managing director, Bharat Lithographing.
The next stop of this six-city road show is Ahmedabad on 9 December, followed by Pune on 23 December, and then Haridwar, Indore, and Bangalore. Pamex will be held in Mumbai from 27 to 30 March 2023.
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.
