Playing cards maker Parksons Cartamundi inaugurated its rooftop solar power plant on 21 September 2022 in the presence of Stefaan Merckx, chief executive officer, Paul Roberts, chief executive officer at Cartamundi Digital Ventures, Sajjan Kejriwal, managing director, and executive director Kapil Kejriwal. “This power plant will fulfill approximately 50% of daytime energy usage of the production facility,” says Cartamudi’s executive director.
Kapil Kejriwal explains to Indian Printer & Publisher, “Parksons Cartamundi believes in sustainability. We treat 100% of used water through sewerage treatment and effluent treatment plants. The treated water is reused in washrooms and for gardening purposes. Not a single drop of used water is wasted.”
The solar power plant at Parksons Cartamundi. Photo Parksons Cartamundi“In the area of sustainable packaging, we have developed a new product known as glassine, which has already replaced plastic packaging in all our products. We have designed multiple manufacturing equipment in-house, which are the first-of-a-kind in this industry. In the future, we will bring more cutting-edge technology to this industry in India. We are also in the process of setting up a global R&D center in India,” Kejriwal observes.
The Indian toys and games opportunities
The Indian toys industry is estimated to be US$ 1.5 billion (approximately Rs 12,403 crore) according to a recent report by Invest India. Indian toy manufacturers are primarily clustered in the Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, with others in the central states of the country.
“There has been significant growth in the toy and games industry in India in the last five years. India’s share is just 0.5% of the global toy and games industry and hence, there is a huge growth potential,” says Kapil Kejriwal.
Established in 1955, Parksons Cartamundi is widely claimed to be India’s largest manufacturer of playing cards and collectible cards. Part of the worldwide Cartamundi Group, the company is a significant player in the evolving world of playing cards and cards for games. Its manufacturing facilities near Mumbai in Gujarat roll out 50 million decks of playing cards, 75 million decks of card games, collectibles, and 2.5 million board games, annually.
“We have seen a positive trend in the poker and premium playing cards segments. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a huge demand for board games. The necessity for digital detox and the growing need to spend time with family and friends has resulted in greater demand in these segments.”
A new segment of hybrid cards combining physical and digital elements has been steadily gaining popularity among the tech-savvy young generation. Another trend on the rise locally is that of gaming cafes, which have been very popular for many years in places such as the USA, Europe, China, and Japan. Of late, this trend has started gaining traction in major Indian cities.
“Gaming cafes can be a great place to socialize and meet new people who share similar interests. This concept is in line with the Cartamundi group’s motto – sharing the magic of playing together. As of now gaming cafes are more into digital games in India,” adds Kapil Kejriwal. Parksons Cartamundi is also a regular participant in the gaming fairs hosted in India. Cartamundi group participates in global gaming fairs such as the ones organized in New York, Nuremberg, and Hongkong.
Parksons Cartamundi installed a K&B 5-color coater UV press in early 2021. “The K&B offset printing press installed in early 2021 is one-of-a-kind equipment in India. It has an inline camera inspection as well as an automatic correction system, which is the first in India. We built a world-class clean room factory for manufacturing board games in late 2021, which has state-of-the-art equipment and systems for the production of board games,” shares Kejriwal. The printing card manufacturer also installed fully automatic card cutting and packing lines in mid-2021. Another K&B offset printing press is expected to arrive in December 2022.
