Naraina-based commercial printing operation Royal Offset Printers is all set to inaugurate its new plant at Trans Delhi Signature City (Tronica City) in Ghaziabad on Dhanteras, 18 October 2025. The new three-storied facility, build on a 1,250 square meter plot, is in close proximity to the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway as well as the Dehradun-Delhi Expressway, which is set to open by October 2025. The company has purchased another adjoining 560 square-meter plot to expand its operations in full swing at the new location.
“Tronica City is well-connected to Delhi-NCR and Punjab – two regions from where we get the majority of our orders. The new location provides ease of connectivity, lower electricity costs, etc,” Vikas Arora, proprietor, Royal Offset Printers, told Indian Printer & Publisher.
“Many packaging and printing operations are moving to far-off locations to take advantage of government subsidies to attract business to less-developed areas. While this reduces operating cost and promotes industrialization, many businesses face initial hiccups such as a lack of local labor resources, delayed service support for equipment, difficulty in procuring spare parts, and logistics issues. Setting up a new facility in a remote location requires a lot of backward integration. We prefer to move to areas that are well-connected and where service, support, and labor are easily available,” he added.
According to Arora, the new plant overcomes the space constraint in Delhi’s Naraina. Transportation is another challenge that has been addressed. In Naraina, the connecting roads were narrow and larger vehicles were not able to reach the plant, he said.
Arora said reduced demand for commercial print, supply chain disruption, and business closures during the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the move to Tronica as he realized that it was not possible to grow further in Naraina. The plan to branch out in NCR was conceived in 2023.
The printer faces a few initial hiccups ahead of the move, including the reluctance of vendors and customers to visit Tronica City, difficulties in finding trained manpower, and sewerage issues due to water-logging in nearby areas due to the rise of Yamuna’s water levels after a heavy monsoon.
Tronica Plant operations
A new 25 x 37 inch Komori GL437 four-color offset printing press was installed in the plant in April this year, while another GL437 is set to be installed at the Tronica plant in two months.
Arora said they had a pleasant printing experience with their first Komori LS429 procured from Insight Print Communications for the Naraina plant in 2010, adding it paved the way for the twin GL437s.
“The Komori GL437 is known for its speed. We ordered the twin presses for ease of convenience, as we can use the same offset plates interchangeably on both machines, in case one machine faces a maintenance issue. The machine is versatile and speed is not a challenge. It can print 15,000 sheets an hour. We have been running it at 13,000-14,000 sheets an hour to test its accuracy,” he said.
Forty-five sets of 400 sheets each have been printed on the new Komori, he said, adding it provides faster make-readies, and the plate size is perfect for publication jobs. Power consumption is not high.
Apart from Komori, a line of Kolbus 20 station gathering, 27 station perfect binding, and in-line three-knife cutting systems have been installed at the Tronica plant along with an 8-color refurbished Heidelberg from Japan, two monochrome Heidelberg machines, and two Heidelberg 2-color convertible presses.
The plant has two Heidelberg Stahl folders along with a 6-clamp perfect binder from Bindwel. Arora said the Bindwel machines are relatively low maintenance with good service backup.
While Arora wants to focus on paperback printing jobs from Delhi-NCR publishers for the time being, a refurbished 2014 Muller Martini machine from the UK is awaiting installation to target the capital’s hardcover books market.
In this year’s peak printing season from October to March, Arora plans to transport from the Naraina plant, offset plates prepared on the CtP, procured from Monotech Systems in 2013. He plans another CtP for the Tronica operations. CorelDraw and Adobe Software are used to finalize printing jobs.
A 100-ton chilling plant for machine rooms has also started working. Arora plans to employ over a hundred employees in the new plant over the next two months.
Royal’s Naraina operations
Royal Offset Printers’ Naraina Industrial Area plant was started by Arora’s father, the late Bansi Lal Arora in 1990, who was a shareholder and director in JMD Colour Scan, a Naraina-based prepress operation.
The Naraina plant is spread over 1,200 square yards – 800 square yards have been taken on rent while the remaining 400 yards are owned by the Arora family. While the operation started with monochrome Heidelberg and Dominant machines, equipment from leading printing companies is operational in the plant today. These include Solna, Akiyama, Sulbi, Stahl, Polygraph, Ryobi, Bindwel and Polar.
According to Arora, Royal expanded into digital with India’s first Xerox Iridesse machine in 2018, along with digital printing equipment from Konica Minolta, Riso India, and Duplo UV.
While Royal’s Tronica plant is being designed to meet the needs of domestic as well as export publishing jobs, the Naraina plant will continue to focus on commercial printing jobs, such as government tenders for printing, along with annual reports and magazines.
Even after the Tronica plant is fully operational, Arora doesn’t plan to shift the entire operations to Ghaziabad due to his attachment to the Naraina facility. He only plans to let go of the rented portion, whose contract is set to expire in the next few months. No equipment will be shifted from Naraina to Tronica. While the older machines would be sold, the newer ones would stay operational in the family’s original 400 square yards space.
Arora will continue business meetings with clients in the Naraina plant, as vendors and customers are reluctant to travel to Tronica. He is already planning a commercial printing facility in Tronica, which will become operational by the end of FY26-27.
