Let’s make India proud with ‘Make (made) in India’ machines!

The stress on the ‘Make in India’ concept has taken steam…but Indian manufacturers, especially in the printing segment, have to really gear up to meet the desired level of quality and precision. We are still lagging behind in equipments meant for finishing, screenprinting, label printing and paper converting. There are only a handful of manufacturers who are able to meet the standards in these areas.

We do not expect Indian machines to meet the European/Japanese standards, as there are many features which are perhaps least relevant to the Indian printing industry. More than 80 percent of Indian users need simpler machines, and those can be produced in India.

On the other hand, it is indeed a matter of pride that Indian web presses have made a mark for themselves not only in the indigenous market but also in international market. Web press manufacturers like Manugraph, Pressline, TPH, J Mahabeer, Prakash Offset, Perfect Rotary, etc are able to meet the expectations of top-of-the-line customers like

The Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, etc in their select print centres, apart from top of the line book printers.

In fact, these web offset machines are increasingly being used for book printing segment, which is growing despite the digital revolution. These high-speed machines are well suited to meet the need of long runs in the educational printing segment. Since there is a dearth of affordable finishing equipments, Indian book printers go for imported used equipment in this category. If Indian manufacturers can come up with good quality affordable machines in this segment, it would be a win-win situation for both the manufacturers as well as the printers.

It is also pertinent to mention that the Indian manufactured consumables like paper, ink, blankets, etc have been well accepted in the market. The marketing of one of the indigenously produced printing ink has been taken over by a German organisation, thereby certifying its quality parameters. More recently, Indian currency was

printed on indigenously manufactured currency note paper, a report on the same is published in this issue.

IPAMA has also been propagating the ‘Make in India’ concept and the upcoming PAMEX in December 2015 in Mumbai might be a testimony to it. Let’s make India proud with good quality machines with ‘Made in India’ tagline.