The International Conference on ‘Future Printing and Scope for India’ was organised by Offset Printers Association (OPA) at the Central University of Haryana (CUH), Mahendergarh, on 25-28 March 2022 under the aegis of AIFMP (All India Federation of Master Printers).
It may be noted AIFMP organizes a bi-annual Print and Packaging Expo in Mumbai under the name ‘PAMEX.’ Their next show will be held in Mumbai on 27-30 March 2023. It may also be noted that both AIFMP and OPA also have members from the Signage and Advertising sector.
The conference, supported by the Ministry of MSME, Government of India, was attended by print leaders from Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal etc. It is a hybrid conference, international speakers were present virtually with the physical presence of the Indian speakers and audience. There were 6 international speakers, 18 Indian resource persons, 30 Print Professionals and 255 Print Entrepreneurs.
Prof. Rajiv Kumar, Member Secretary, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), was the Chief Guest and Prof. Tankeshwar Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Haryana joined as the Guest of Honour for the inaugural session. Prof. Kamal Mohan Chopra, P Chander, President, AIFMP, gave a glimpse of the current situation of the printing and packaging industry and invited the printers in the conference to voice out their needs and challenges that AIFMP, as an apex body, can take up and solve.
In his welcome address, Parveen Aggarwal, President of OPA, said: “Since we are talking about the future printing, it was felt necessary that besides the present printers the future printers of the country may also be vigilant and understand how to manage the changes.”
Addressing the gathering, Prof. Tankeshwar Kumar, insisted that the students be aware of the greatness of such events and benefit from them enormously.
In his inaugural address, Prof. Rajiv Kumar listed out various schemes and facilities that AICTE has rolled out over the years, such as YUVAK, LILAVATI, PRAGATI, schemes that fund students to participate in international events, travel abroad, Smart India Hackathon, Internship supports, Faculty Development Programme (FDP), Quality Improvement Program with foreign universities and over 40 more.
In his technical presentation, Narendra Paruchuri of Pragati Offset, Hyderabad, spoke on ‘Current Scenario of Printing in India – Technology and Scope’. He gave an excellent statistical view of the prevailing scenario in commercial printing and the booming packaging industry.
Ahmed Mughira Nurhani, President of the Indonesian Print Media Association, (speaking on a virtual platform), emphasized on ‘Future Printing Scope for India and Indonesia’. Zulkor Shahin spoke on ‘Future of printing in Bangladesh and Scope of network with Indian Printing and Packaging Industry.
On day two deliberations took place on ‘Future Outlook of Printing in Sri Lanka and Opportunities for Collaboration,’ with an address by Peter Deckker, President of Sri Lanka Association of Printers (SLAP). He invited the printers to make a business trip to Sri Lanka and the students to their print lab. Ms. Thiemjai Jorgensen, Chief Editor of Thai Printer Magazine spoke on ‘Printing Industry of Thailand and Scope for Collaboration’. She extended an open invitation to the PackPrint International Exhibition to be held in Oct 2022 in Thailand. Satish Malhotra, former President of AIFMP spoke about the opportunities of print export, especially to the Middle East and African countries.
In the post-lunch session, Pema Gelay, Leader of the Bhutan Printers Association made a presentation on ‘Printing Industry of Bhutan and Scope for Collaboration’. Subhash Chander, former President of AIFMP said: “Printing and packaging in India are growing and we have the capacity and capability to supply quality equipment to these countries. Khom Kanta Regmi, President of the Federation of Nepal printers’ Association (FNPA) emphasized that India has been the source for their printing industry – raw materials, machines and even some job orders.
Prof. (Dr) Rajenderakumar Anayath, Vice-Chancellor Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology and an eminent printing technologist, spoke about the perspective that is needed for an engineering student.
