Vol. XIX | No. 1 | January - February 2015 ` 20.00 PrintPack 2015 a huge success India’s Print Industry ‘Alive and Kicking’ The Soul and Spirit of Viani Printings Govt. Subsidy for Print Entrepreneurs Print Miracle RNI Reg. No. 65957/96 The Official Journal of Kerala Master Printers’ Association Vol. XIX No. 1 January - February 2015 Editor : P.S. Rajan Editorial Asst. Editor : Joe Paul he dominance of India’s printing industry hubs is slowly Office Bearers of KMPA fading away. Once well-known places for printing President : G. Venugopal TSivakasi, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi are saturated General Secretary : D. Manmohan Shenoy with printing presses and the main players in these centres Treasurer : B.K. Rajan are facing dearth of work and planning to change from their Immediate Past President : Joseph Muttathottil present locations. Scene at Chennai is so pathetic that some main players there are on the verge of close down or closed. Joint Secretary : Yeldho K. George However, the industry in smaller cities like Coimbatore and Cochin show double Vice Presidents digit growth. Central : T.F. James Till a decade ago, most print buyers from Kerala and many from southern India North : C.R. Nandakumar used to go to Chennai for quality printing jobs; and for bulk work to Sivakasi. This South : K. Madhusoodhanan trend was reversed after 2000 as well-equipped printing presses mushroomed in West : S. Saji new hubs like Cochin, Coimbatore and several smaller cities in India. When people Headquarters : P.S. Rajan have the facilities to do good printing in their neighborhood, why would they go Committee Chairmen distant places. Besides, they can save money in transportation and commuting. It seems that four-colour printing is shifting from tier 1 cities to tier 2 cities like Exhibitions : O. Venugopal Cochin, Coimbatore and Ahmadabad. The most important reason for this shifting Publication : P.S. Rajan is the high cost of real estate in mega cities like Mumbai and Delhi. The existing Membership Promotion : Raju N. Kutty presses in the large metros also find it extremely difficult to expand their premises Training & HRD : G. Rajesh due high property value. At the same time in smaller cities the property value is Awards : K.P. Uthup less and there is enough space to establish state-of-the-art printing presses. Few Hospitality & Recreation : Shaji Manjooran players in the traditional printing hubs who have gone for value-added printing are Export Promotion : K.P. Sabu showing growth. The recent sales of brand new four-colour machines in the North Machinery : R. Gopakumar East or interior parts of Kerala show that multi-colour printing is spreading to tier 3 Technology : Magesh Karthik cities also. Paper & Raw Material : Benitto Jose Moreover, the spread of Internet, other communication technologies and Land & Building : Nazar Marikavil infrastructure development have given the print entrepreneurs a vast corridor to set up printing units at any part of India and do printing jobs for clients anywhere. Govt. Affairs & Taxation : Roy Thomas Good growth in the printing industryin smaller cities shows the trend is gaining Website Management : Gerard T. Chandy momentum. The booming Indian economy, increasing consumerism, entry of G.C. Members-AIFMP : R. Suresh global brands in the country and opening of the sector to foreign investors are : O. Venugopal bound to offer growth opportunities to the industry in newer centres. : G. Venugopal The development of new printing hubs has helped Indian Printing Industry to : K.C. Sanjeev grow at a rate of 12% per annum. The current annual turnover of the industry is more than `70,000 crores. : Raju N. Kutty For commercial and editorial: Kerala Master Printers’ Association Casa Grante Building, 2nd Floor, (P.S. Rajan) Deshabhimani Junction, Cochin - 682 017. Editor Phone : 0484 - 4042715 E-mail : [email protected] [email protected] Contents Website : www.kmpa.in President’s Desk ...................................................................................................3 Published by Mr. R. Suresh, former President, PrintPack 2015 .....................................................................................................4 KMPA on behalf of Kerala Master Printers Soul and Spirit of Viani ........................................................................................9 Association, Cochin - 17 and printed by him Understanding synthetic paper ...........................................................................19 at G.K. Printers, Kochi - 682 017 for Jasmine Grafix. Printers’ Day marked .........................................................................................20 Subsidy for entrepreneurs ...................................................................................23 All rights reserved. Views expressed by the contributors South India Printers’ Association launched .......................................................24 are not necessarily those of the KMPA or the editor or the publisher and they accept no responsibility for them. KMPA Managing Committee Meeting ..............................................................27 Hanumantha Rao passes away ...........................................................................28 Industry News ....................................................................................................31 Print Miracle | January - February 2015 | 1 KONGSBERG V The reliable cutting table for signage, displays & packaging sample production The Kongsberg V is an entry level cutting table that stands for durability, reliability, precision and ease of use. The Kongsberg V cutters comes in standard con gurations with a broad selection of tools, providing quality results on a wide range of cutting, creasing, and plotting tasks. Find out more at esko.com/kongsbergv www.esko.com [email protected] PH: +91 80 4352 0100 ext(102/105) Print Miracle | January - February 2015 | 2 President’s Desk Dear friends, he 2ndManaging Committee Meeting of the 2014-16 term was held on February 7, 2015 at IMA House and discussed about acquiring the adjoining space to the office. All Managing TCommittee members were in favour of buying the space of around 430 Sq. ft. and the price for the property is being negotiated with the owners. KMPA observed the Printers’ Day on February 24 with a function held at the association hall. K.V. Joseph of KK Printers, a veteran printer in Kochi and a close confidant of late Jose Joseph, was honoured during the function. Former Joint Director of Industries & Commerce Department, Adv. B. Prasannakumar was a special invitee at the function. He spoke elaborately on various subsidies offered by government for small scale entrepreneurs. Members present at the function had the opportunity to clear their doubts on getting the govt. subsidy and to ask about the ways to go about it. Well, I must say that KMPA is functioning with more vigor in uniting the printers’ community in Kerala. The association is trying to bring in more members to its fold and recently some new members were inducted. At the national level, KMPA is functioning as a loyal affiliate body to AIFMP. KMPA GC members are regularly attending the Federation’s Governing Council meetings. KMPA has also decided to join the South India Printers Association (SIPA) mooted by the Immediate Past President of AIFMP Mr. ASMG Ashokan. It will be a body of printers’of South India. The proposed association will be a good platform for printers from the region. It will strengthen the ties between the printers in South India. The new association held its first meeting at Madurai on March 15, 2015. A strong delegation of KMPA visited PrintPack India 2015 at Noida. The show was a big hit and it proved Print Industry in India is progressing well with ‘Make in India’ products gaining popularity. Our machines and technology were prominent in the show competing with other world class products. The exhibition also generated a good volume of business. The Printing Technology courses under Additional Skills Acquisition Programme (ASAP) are progressing and the first batch of the students are soon going to come out as their exams will soon be over. The exams at Trivandrum centre are completed; exams at Ernakulam, Trichur and Calicut centres are yet to be finished. KMPA has to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government to continue the programme as ASAP wanted some changes in the conduct of the courses. ASAP wants three separate courses in Pre-Press, Press and Post-Press, unlike the single all-inclusive one we had been conducting so far. The draft of the MoUis being prepared. Some of the members of KMPA will surely be attending the International Printing Technology Exhibition in Guangdong, China. Bon voyage to all those going to China. Summer heat has started already and soon be unbearable. For the printers summer is the time to make hay. Printing presses get more work during this period of the year. The only worrying factor is power cut. As Kerala depends mainly on hydel electricity, power cuts (scheduled or unscheduled) are usual during summer due to the lack of sufficient water in the reservoirs. So, all of you adopt ways to cut power consumption and get ready for the heat. Happy summer days, G. Venugopal, (President, KMPA) Print Miracle | January - February 2015 | 3 PrintPack 2015 proves Print By P.S. Rajan he first thing I noticed at Print- visitors rated the show as ‘good’ to Pack India 2015 is a ‘shift of ‘excellent’. Tattitude’ among the visitors –