Yatinsinh Vaghela, managing director at Lisco at the company's stand at 50th Media Expo. Photo IPP
At the 50th MediaExpo, held from 2 – 4 March at the Bombay Exhibition Center in Mumbai, Ahmedabad-based Lisco launched its range of printers – the ZF1808D hybrid UV, AC1602S high-speed eco-solvent printer, the AQ1804S high-speed eco-solvent, AC1802UV entry-level UV roll-to-roll and the C3202SG Plus star fire solvent cover body economy printer.
The AQ1804S high-speed eco-solvent printer uses four Epson i3200 print heads along with GZ variable dot technology for flawless printing of images. The AC1802UV entry-level UV roll-to-roll printer is equipped with an Epson i3200 print head with PrecisionCore MicroTFP technology and water-cooling LED UV lamps. The C3202SG Plus star fire solvent cover body economy printer is equipped with a Dimatix Starfire 1024 print head with a smart IR dryer.
Yatinsinh Vaghela, managing director at Lisco told Indian Printer & Publisher, “This Media Expo has been wonderful for us. We have been participating in it for the past many years but have seen the growth after the Covid-19 pandemic. Media Expo has captured the Indian market. We call it a national show. We grow after each and every Media Expo exhibition. The response to the new launches had been very good.” After the Covid-19 pandemic, the signage industry in India is growing very quickly, he said. “The entire market will shift to green UV textiles. We have some upcoming new technologies for textiles and UV products, which we will launch at the Delhi Media Expo,” he added. Lisco has installed almost more than 300 units across the Indian subcontinent since it started out in 2018. According to Vaghela, UV, multi-layer printing, two-layer, three-layer, and day-night effect printing will be the upcoming trends in outdoor and indoor signage.
“Our plan is to add more and more new technologies, and new products from different regions and countries, and expand our existing network. We have almost reached each state of India,” he concluded.
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.
