Ravi Srivastava receives Print Shree Award 2023

Conferred by Offset Printers Association

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Ravi
Ravi Srivastava (M) receiving the Print Shree Award 2023. Photo India education

The Offset Printers Association (OPA) has conferred the Print Shree Award 2023 — a prestigious award in the field of printing, packaging, and innovation — on Ravi Srivastava of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).

Ravi Srivastava, publication officer of INGCA, which is under the Ministry of Culture, GOI, was recommended by the award committee in recognition of his achievements and performances for the growth and welfare of the printing and packaging industry of India.

Srivastava has devoted his time and energy to building alliances, especially for the former printing students. He is a print technologist from the Northern Regional Institute of Printing Technology (NRIPT) and has educational excellence in printing and packaging technologies. In the past, he has been associated with print media and was the production head at The Times of India Group for more than 19 years and at India Today Group for about 11 years.

An OPA said, “The Offset Printers Association has the honor to present Ravi Srivastava, who has been recommended by the award committee as an eminently qualified person for the Print Shree Award 2023 in recognition of his exceptional achievements and performances for the growth and welfare of printing and packaging industry of India.”

Presenting the Print Shree trophy, Govind Bhargava, former president of AIFMP and chief guest of the occasion, appreciated the activities of OPA and persuaded other associations to follow in the footsteps of OPA.

Bhargava said, “The OPA is always on the front foot while working for the printing sector. By organizing print competitions for the students, they are trying to promote print education in India and on the other hand, by honoring the deserving talent, they are filling the gap between the talent and the persons who recognize the talent.”

Sachidanand Joshi, member secretary, IGNCA, expressed happiness for Srivastav and congratulated him on receiving the award. He said, “Srivastava is doing good work for the organization.”

While thanking OPA for the recognition, Ravi Srivastava in his address appreciated the efforts of Kamal Mohan Chopra, president of the World Print Communication Forum (WPCF) for networking between the printers and for persuading the younger generation to adopt printing as a career.

“With this recognition now, I must work more vigorously for the cause of printing and print education. I am thankful to the managing committee of OPA for bestowing such an honor,” Srivastava said.

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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