Shapers behind IPAMA’s PRINTPACK INDIA

Way back in 1986, the Indian graphic art industry was in a nebulous state, unorganised and non-existent, with no voice to pull worthwhile attention of global contenders. The onslaught of imported machineries was unchecked and unmitigated, which in turn seriously impacted the growth in manufacturing. There was, therefore, an instinctive urge for expression and identification.

First and foremost move

On August 26 in 1986, in one of the back rooms of Bandhu Machinery’s office at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi, some pioneers of the industry gathered to form an association of manufacturers of printing machines, pre/post printing equipments, allied equipments, inks and consumable materials. It was founded as ‘Graphic Art Equipment Association’. Later, it was on August 22 in 1988, the name of the association was rechristened as ‘Indian Printing, Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufacturers Association’ or IPAMA in abbreviated form. Thereafter, the association was registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 on October 9 in 1991 under the new name IPAMA.

Members and managing committee

On August 22 in 1988, the first general body meeting of IPAMA was attended by 24 members and a managing committee of 15 members was formed. Thereafter, there have been 13 governing councils duly elected. The functioning of the association is governed by a Memorandum & Articles of Association. The basic nature of the constitution is democratic. Its day-to-day functioning is managed by a Governing Council, comprising elected representatives from all over India, headed by the president, general secretary and treasurer. Committees of the association are constituted from time to time to handle important projects and events.

Trends of growth

The Indian printing and packaging sector is constantly registering a growth year by year. This could be the result of growing literacy rate and demand for better finishing & packaging in the country, especially in urban sector. Coupled with this is the zeal with which the textbook bureaus of different states have been vying each other to achieve the excellence needed on web offset machines is remarkable. In the web offset sector or the newspaper printing market of India, regional newspapers are on the growth curve, which is said to be a result of the country’s increasing reading habit among young generations.

Escalating Hindi dailies

Increase in circulation of Hindi dailies has set an all time record over the last few years. Hindi dailies alone represent around one-third of the printed newspaper in the country. A recent study by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), Hindi dailies in ABC’s circulation figures and IRS 2017 readership survey figures have gained eminent counts. These public figures taken together with their own survey data and discussion with expert informants in the regional dailies have led to a quantitative understanding together with some thoughts on how the Hindi dailies will progress over the

next five years.

Forecast is that Hindi dailies with moderate growth in circulation will increase by 50 lakh (5 million) copies in the next five years with maximum growth accruing to the leading 165 Hindi dailies. In case of high growth over the next five years the forecast is for a circulation growth of 1 crore (10 million) copies daily which will primarily accrue to the leading dailies; of these, the top 20 groups are expected to get major share.

Years of hard work

Recollection of the past history of IPAMA’s making of PRINTPACK INDIA will contain the serious efforts made by several industry leaders to achieve the current status of show. In fact, the current status of the show is achieved through years of hard work by many stalwarts from the industry under tough conditions. Many manufacturers of the Indian graphic art industry have been instrumental in raising the bar of the exhibition of printing, packaging and allied machinery from 6,000 sq m with 125 participants in 1990 (INDIA PACK 1990) to nearly 20,000 sqm with over 400 participants in 2017 (in the 13th edition of PRINTPACK INDIA). This could be achieved with the hard work and dedication of the governing bodies under guidance of past office bearers.

The office bearers are SM Shah, Prem Bandhu Gupta, Late GC Aneja, Late HV Seth, Late Balkrishan Khindria, Late SS Marathe, Rakesh Agnihotri, VK Dhir, NS Manku, Sanjay Gupta, KS Khurana, Satish Bajwa, CP Paul, TR Mahajan, among others. PRINTPACK INDIA attracts manufacturers and suppliers from all over the world. The immense contribution of show has pushed the dynamism of Brand India image to a new high. End-users from both domestic and international markets look forward to visiting PRINTPACK INDIA for their requirement to expand business. The show is fast moving close on the heels of drupa.

The next 14th edition of PRINTPACK INDIA will be held from February 1-6, 2019 at India Expo Centre in Greater Noida and 60 percent of exhibition floor has been booked as on today.

(This article is contributed by PRESSLINE India)