History of Indian Label Industry Part 3

LMAI Board members at Kochi Conference 2019

In July 2017, the LMAI conference at Agra registered an astounding success with 550 delegates. As a proud moment for me, I was conferred the first ever “Lifetime award for support to the Indian Labels Industry!” In the following year, Indian label industry was in a fast forward mode, as was evident from the resounding success of labelexpo India 2018 when the Indian label association LMAI hosted the international label confederation L9, an event that was applauded for the kind of camaraderie that it created amongst the global labels fraternity. The 3-day LMAI label conference from 25th-27th July 2019 at Kochi, Kerala with close to 600 delegates from all over India and various parts of the world attending this biennial event, was efficiently organized and delivered the promise of comradeship, entertainment and knowledge sharing. It was a gigantic task hosting such a large number of delegates. The program was held at Grand Hyatt, perched on 26 acres of plush green land on the serene Bolgatty Island, Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty is a waterfront urban resort overlooking the backwaters of Vembanad Lake. Amit Sheth, who had been instrumental in founding LMAI was conferred the lifetime award for his outstanding services to Indian label industry.

This was followed up with a vibrant Labelexpo Europe 2019 at Brussels which was a happening show! As the show opened on 24th September 2019 the corridors started to fill up and a whole lot of cosmopolitan visitors including a substantial number from India were visible.

By December 2019, Covid-19 or Corona virus  struck populations in countries across the globe creating a scare that impacted adversely most economies in the world. Governments took strong measures to curb the proliferation  of the virus which was declared a pandemic. Increasing numbers of affected people and deaths had created an alarming situation. Areas were cordoned off, schools shut, travel became restricted, congregation of people was restrained, and businesses were left suffering. The global printing industry at large also faced the brunt of the impact. Important printing events where major buying decisions are taken and seminars that enhance knowledge besides providing networking opportunities were postponed. On the evening of 24th March 2020, lockdown was imposed in India for just 14 days and the entire country came to a standstill. Workers who felt the pinch of no work started migrating to the safe confines of their homes in villages. For two years with multiple extensions of lockdown until March 2022, people were restricted to their homes after which the businesses started limping back to normalcy. To counter the spread of virus, a huge demand for sanitizers erupted, and due to the restrictions on movement, another big avenue of packaging for ecommerce emerged. Label printers devised ways to reach factories and devise ways to service this need and demand for labels. A resilient label industry did not lose its steam and even in those tough times, continued to grow modestly. An interesting boost came for digital label printing. During the lockdown there was a shortage of workers, it was difficult to get prepress done and supplies were not adequately available. Digital presses, enabling computers to print,  provided the support to meet the just in time and customized label demands. While flexo printing companies had to take a back seat but others with digital printing capabilities like Sai Com Codes, Skanem, Huhtamaki, Pragati and others with digital printing presses were able to print and supply in multiple shifts. Harish Gupta led Sai Com Code invested in HP Indigo in 2020 after having installed by a Konika Minolta in 2019 and with plans to invest more in digital presses.

Late U K Gupta

Unfortunately, many people in label industry passed away during the time of corona virus, prominent amongst them was industry legend U K Gupta, founder of Holostik, Neeraj Mahajan of Prakash Labels, my own elder brother Pritpal Sahni and mother of Ajay Mehta of SMI Coated products. It is sad that the times were bad, and these people could not be given a proper send off by their dear ones. What is encouraging is that many leading label companies indulged in social service to others who were  suffering by providing health and essential support. Besides other problems many printers who in their expansion plans, had placed orders for new equipment and started building new facilities, had to put things on hold or slow down pace due to social distancing norms, shortage of manpower and financial stress on cashflows. Label printing companies Mudrika labels, Prakash labels and a few more had already bought label presses that had either been imported or were shipped and had to wait until the end of the pandemic so that international travelling restrictions were relaxed, and foreign engineers could come for installing the equipment. Construction of Prakash labels new factory and Any Graphics’ upcoming factory also had to go on hold until the pandemic tapered off.

On the 11th of May 2020 an embattled Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fighting a mammoth pandemic Covid-19 on one hand and facing a dwindling economic scenario on the other, made a clarion call to the nation, calling for his countrymen to support his vision for Atma-Nirbhar Bharat or self-Reliant India. He even announced a financial package but primarily these were easily available loans but one still was required to pay interest and installments. A large part of the label industry in distress due to the impact of lockdown, was not very comfortable with this, as in a situation whereby the post pandemic demand had yet to crystalise. It is heartening that the label industry started bouncing back to vibrancy and growth. The industry learnt to achieve more with less.

Development of prepress has been instrumental in the growth of flexo printing. While prepress and platemaking companies have been spread across the country. There has been pioneering work done by Deepanshu Goel led Noida headquartered Creative Graphics, setting up units at multiple locations to service customers just in time as they demand. In 2017 Deepanshu Goel went on an expansion and acquisition spree by first starting operations in Mumbai then starting the Hyderabad unit, later acquiring Chennai based Colordot. In 2018 he started his Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) unit followed by a unit in Ahmedabad bringing the total number of manufacturing units to six, working out of a consolidated shopfloor area of 50,000 square feet. Veepee Graphic Solutions (P) Ltd, a prepress company founded by the Late V Peethambaram in 1996, now run by his son Jaichandra and his wife Nalani,  too has multi location facilities in India and in Srilanka. Pinmark Block in Ahmedabad and a vast number of prepress and plate making companies have spread across all geographical zones contributing to the development and excellence of flexographic printing in India.

Dhiresh Ghosalia

Dhiresh Gosalia led Pressure sensitive Adhesive manufacturer Jesons corporation, in 2012 had reported total working space of over 185,000 square feet, 250 employees producing 60000 tons adhesive and other emulsions per annum out of the installed capacity of 86000 tons per annum. By 2024 they had expanded to 6 plants across India producing adhesives and specialty chemicals with installed capacity of 283,000 tons per annum and a revenue of Rupees 1722Crores exporting to 60 countries. They have almost 35% of the expanded India PSA market.

Indigenisation of equipment and supplies in India has been an ongoing process reducing dependence on imported products. Aurangabad based Sanjeev Atre led PGI Technologies had pioneered in manufacturing magnetic cylinders in India, in 2022 the tooling business of PGI was taken over by Noida based Multi Hitech Inc. led by D K Garg. Netherland headquartered and world’s largest anilox manufacturers Apex International had set up their India manufacturing facility in Nashik in 2018. A year later three partners Parag Koradia,  Parag Patel and Sandeep Sharma started their first indigenously owned production of anilox rolls in their company Acme Rolltech Pvt.Ltd. Ahmedabad. Up to March 2024 Acme had sold 9500 rolls catering to almost 900 customers across the globe exporting to more than 25 countries, with partners in 12 countries having close to 95 % repeat business. The company claims to have 48% market share. The number of labelstock manufacturers continued to grow with installations of coater/laminators already in or coming up across the nation in places like Delhi NCR, Baddi, Indore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Daman, Palghar, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nashik, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Morvi,  Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Puducherry and other remote areas. In 2012, Ranesh Bajaj led Creed engineers had launched their in-house Brand “Vinsak”, venturing into manufacturing at a facility in Rabale, Navi Mumbai, producing slitter/rewinders, label finishing equipment and Inkjet systems for labels and security printing. In 2016, the company was renamed “Vinsak India P Ltd.” Ranesh and his family moved to the UAE in 2014 to manage the Global operations of the group from there. The group now has a significant business in the middle east and Africa selling label printing, finishing equipment. The group also acquired the productive unit of Rotatek, narrow web offset manufacturing in Barcelona Spain.

On the 2nd of February 2019, India’s largest Indigenous labelstock manufacturer Ajay Mehta led SMI Coated Products Pvt. Ltd. headquartered in Mumbai with slitting and distribution center in Jebel Ali UAE, celebrated their 25th year of existence, in grand style. Over two hundred guests were shown their impressive factory. Three years later on April 29, 2022, they were 100% acquired by Jindal Poly Films’ wholly owned subsidiary, Jindal PolyPack. In May 2022, PRS Permacel, which owes its inheritance to healthcare giant Johnson and Johnson and founded in 1927 by them, later became a part of  The Premchand-Roychand and Sons’ group, was acquired by Grindwell Norton Ltd., a Saint-Gobain group company. PRS Permacel is a manufacturer of adhesive tapes and label solutions. In October 2023 Gautham Pai led Manipal Utility Packaging Solutions was acquired by J K Paper Limited. Manipal Utility Packaging Solutions has been amongst the top 10 Packaging and Label companies in India. JK Paper Mill unit at Rayagada (Odhisa) was established in 1962. They are a leading Indian player in Office Papers, Coated Papers, Writing and Printing Papers and High-end Packaging papers and Boards. They acquired the total labels and packaging business of Manipal technologies.

In January 2022, a strike began at UPM mills in Finland, in support of the Paper workers' Union. The strike lasted 112 days and affected the production of paper supplies and materials. The printing industry was under extreme pressure due to shortages and depleting stock levels. The war between Russia and Ukraine has had several impacts on the packaging industry, packaging production costs went skywards. The price of paper pulp in Europe increased by almost 60%, which had impacted packaging production costs even in India.

Harveer Sahni and wife with Global award

On 13th of September 2022, I, Harveer Sahni was conferred the year’s R. Stanton Avery Global Achievement Award. I am the first Indian so far to have been bestowed with this prestigious honour. The decision was made by the Global Awards judging panel, consisting of Lori Campbell, chairman of TLMI, Linnea Keen, president of TLMI, Philippe Voet, Finat president, Greg Hrinya, editor of Label & Narrow Web, James Quirk, content director at Labels & Labeling, and Jean Poncet, editor-in-chief at Etiq+Pack.

Labelexpo India 2022 made its return to India from 14th to 17th November 2022, post the 4-year hiatus due to pandemic, in style and impressively. The show at Expo Centre in Greater Noida was vibrant with activity and label printers gave a  definite thumbs-up to this all-important show. Despite the leading international label presses not being there running live, 250 exhibitors put forward their best to a demanding labels industry. A whopping record breaking 12000 visitors marked their presence in this busy show, a big rise from 9851 visitors at the 2018 edition of Labelexpo India, making it yet again the biggest Labelexpo held in India so far. The Indian label press manufacturers exhibited in big numbers and displayed the fact the industry had evolved to international standards. Leading the pack were Multitec, UV Graphic Technologies, Alliance Printech, NBG Printographic Machinery, Webtech, R K label Machinery etc. All label press exhibitors reported a successful show. Technological changes also started to be adopted by the Indian label fraternity. Multitec leads the way, working out of a 110,000 square feet shop floor with 120 employees. They have offices in 3 countries and agents in 15 countries. The number of presses they report as installed so far is a whopping 588!

UV flexo label printing came into use in narrow web label printing towards the end of last millennium around 1999. By the end of the first decade in 2009, UV LED flexo printing was displayed at Labelexpo Europe, it was a matter of time for the technology to reach India. The first sales of LED flexo series in India was signed in 2020 and thereafter it has started being preferred by a lot of printers.

Label industry in India has been transforming gradually implementing evolving label technologies, starting with flatbed letterpress to intermittent letter press and settling down with rotary flexo that saw immense upgradation both in terms of quality and speed. Moving further, combination printing has been adopted by many companies having combination of flexo with any or either of gravure or screen or offset along with embellishments, in a single pass. The most important change in the transformation of label printing is now the growth of digital label printing. Even though the first digital label press was installed in 2008 yet by 2015 most leading label printers were of the opinion that due to high cost of equipment and consumables, digital printing has to wait for a while. On the other hand, technology was growing and finding acceptance around the world. European Label Industry Association FINAT had also revealed that European digital label press installations overtook conventional press sales for the first time in 2017. The number of digital roll label presses of leading brands in India has expanded from the 22 in 2017 to 51 in 2022 registering a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 18% as regards the number of press installations. Out of these HP Indigo accounted for 16 presses  which include two 25K which find usage both for labels as well as for flexible packaging and one HP Indigo for Lamitubes, Konica Minolta 10, Monotech 8, Domino 3, Xeikon 2, Durst 4, Screen 2, etc. In terms of numbers, Hp had 32% share of the installations, Konica Minolta 20%, Monotech 16%, Durst 8%, Domino 6% and others account for the balance . However, this was not a real indicator of the quantum of investment by label printing companies in digital printing technology. I have done the calculation on the approximate costs of these equipment, the total investment in digital roll label equipment in 2022 was more than Rupees 215 Crores or about 28 million US Dollars.  HP, being the most expensive equipment of the lot, accounts for a whopping 66% of the investment made in value  while all others remain less than 10%. Digital is on a growth path! The digital printing segment has started growing at a fast pace. In two years after 2022, in 2024 the number has jumped to over 92! With the maiden entry of a high-end digital label press from Pulisi, China, the final count of digital presses in India is 93.It is an increase of CAGR of 24%. HP continued to maintain their leadership with similar market share in excess of 60%.

Any Graphics New NOIDA factory

In the last five years from 2019 -2024, label printing companies have expanded with installations and increasing their shopfloor areas to accommodate more equipment among these are Any Graphics who moved to their new state of the art 250,000 square feet factory in Noida, Prakash Labels also moved to their new factory in Noida spread over 50,000 square feet with 8 label presses, Seljegat Sivakasi moved to their new factory with 160 employees, increasing the shop floor under production to 120,000 square feet with multiple presses and allied equipment and Zircon Technologies Dehradun expanded to six plants with increased product range and shopfloor admeasuring 300,000 square feet and Kwality Labels Delhi. moved to their additional new facility in Manesar. Others who also expanded include Sai Com Codes Rai, Alpine containers Jammu, Marks Emballage Baddi, Jain Transfer Noida, Mudrika labels Mumbai, Janus Mumbai, Kumbhat Holograms Chennai, Asean Packaging Ahmedabad, Great Eastern ID Tech Gurgaon, Multigraphics Dehradun, etc. The industry has emerged stronger after covid and is on the move to greater heights. Avery Dennison had started their operations from a factory in Gurgaon and later they set up their bigger facility in Ranjangaon near Pune. In April 2022 they commenced operations in their new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Greater Noida spread over 12 acres. Avery Dennison opened its first Intelligent Label Solutions Lab in India in Pune in April 2019. This lab is the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa. Intelligent labels, or "smart labels," are labels that contain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. These labels can help with product history authentication, tracking, inventory, consumer encounters, and digital transformation. They can also help prevent product counterfeiting and improve logistics. RFID technology is used in many industries, including beauty, food production, aviation, automobile manufacturing, logistics, retail, and supply-chain management. In March 2024 UPM Raflatac, a global supplier self-adhesive paper and film products, opened a new slitting and distribution terminal in Mumbai, India. The existing facility in Bangalore is being closed.

Sustainability and environmental concerns became  issues that called for immediate attention. A conscious India’s label association LMAI held many seminars on sustainability, waste management, EPR and green endeavours. Their commitment culminated in the LMAI conference at Jaipur which was themed as creativity-innovation-sustainability. The much awaited sixth biennial LMAI label conference was held from 20th to 23rd July 2023 at the sprawling Leela Palace Hotel Jaipur. The event was organized following a gap of 4 years after an amazing showing at Kochi in 2019. A total of 580 delegates that included Printers from all over India, domestic as well as international suppliers and leading printing magazines. Ramesh Deshpande of Renu Prints Aurangabad was conferred the LMAI lifetime award.

Avery Dennison’s sustainability implementation effort includes their recycling program started in 2018 that helps recycle used paper and filmic label liners. It offers customized waste recycling solutions and works with professional recyclers. They handle all the paperwork and regulatory concerns, including proper documentation and compliance with waste-transport laws. Their program titled AD Circular comes at a comparable cost to what converters are already paying to dispose of their label liners. Avery’s other endeavour in sustainability is the launch of their linerless direct thermal labelstock for barcode applications.

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi March 2024