India to emerge as major outsourcing hub for printing jobs

A four-day exhibition on printing and allied industries "" Print Today "" was inaugurated here on Thursday.

Speaking at the function, P Narendra, the managing director of Pragathi Art Press, said: "India will soon emerge as an outsourcing hub for printing jobs from the West." Companies from the US, the UK and Japan are looking for outsourcing printing jobs to Andhra Pradesh, he added.

"Of the 24 computer to plate (CTP) installations across the country, Andhra Pradesh has 11 CTPs. The state has around 10,000 medium and large printing units, and nearly 10 lakh people depend on the printing industry for their livelihood. The printing industry in the state, on conservative estimates, does around Rs 500 crore business a year," Narendra said.

Commenting on the machinery on display at the expo, Narendra said these machinery have proved that India could produce quality printing machinery on par with the rest of the world.

"Though 90 per cent of the printing machinery is being imported from Germany and Japan, India has achieved self-sufficiency in developing indigenous machinery in plate processing, film processing and cutting machinery," Narendra said, adding, "Printing is now treated as an IT-enabled service."

Sixty-eight exhibitors including Hewlett Packard, C-Dac Pune, Trans Asia Fine Papers, Screen Print India Magazine, Print Packaging.com, SV Digital Large Format Printers, Sri-Lipi, Anu Graphics, Subham Card and Apple Computers are showcasing over 500 products at the four-day exhibition, which is being organised in the city after a gap of 14 years.

Manufacturers and suppliers of offset, screen, package, signage, desktop printing (DTP), graphics, flexography, label and digital hardware too are showcasing their products. The exhibition is expected to attract 15,000 people in the next three days.