Adding to its Komori portfolio, Indore’s carton specialist Vijayshri Packaging recently installed its fifth Komori in 2026 – a Komori GL-640 Advance 6-color plus coater sheetfed offset press in 28 x 40 inch format for conventional printing to up its production capacity.
Vijayshri already has a Komori GL640 6-color plus coater combi press with UV in 28 x 40 inch format installed in 2021; and a Komori GL637 6-color plus coater offset printing machine in the 25 x 37 inch format acquired in 2022. Another GL637 combi machine with a capability of printing both conventional and UV inks was acquired in 2024 to complement the first GL640. The unit also has an older Komori Lithrone 6-color conventional machine in the 40-inch format.
“All the machines are equipped with an online anilox coating system and PDL SX sheet scanning system,” Ayush Jain, director at Vijayshri Packaging, told Packaging South Asia over an eMail interaction.
Vijayshri Packaging has 15 Zhongke machines in production. “These machines have been made by Zhongke China and other Chinese machine manufacturers represented by Zhongke India. There are multiple reasons for going back to Zhongke with newer requirements,” he said.
Zhongke, he said, represents quality manufacturers from China. “The machines are well equipped, sturdily built, and are straightforward in their jobs. The cost is affordable and Zhongke has a robust service and support backup,” Jain said.
Besides printing, Vijayshri has screen printing equipment from Creofoil, offline coaters from Heidelberg, lamination machines from YongShun (supplied by Zhongke India), die-cutters from Brausse, flute laminators from Ample and folder gluers from Bobst and DGM.
Rigid Boxes
Before 2025, Vijayshri Packaging was offering three product verticals – monocartons, litho-laminated 3-ply inner cartons, and 5-ply litho-laminated multicolor printed shipper cartons. All these verticals were offset printed, not flexo printed, Jain pointed out, adding they provide window-patched cartons with monocartons and 3-ply cartons. Liner is an application they can provide with monocartons.
They added rigid boxes in late 2025. “Rigid boxes received a good response. We found a lot of cross-selling opportunities. It helped us in our quest for premiumization in terms of product offerings and perception by customers,” he said.
Vijayshri is exclusively in paper now. It serves primarily the food business, including makers of staples such as edible oil, dairy, as well as packaged foods such as biscuits, namkeens, chocolates and confectionery and other items. In non-food, Vijayshri is a little bit into pharmaceuticals, FMCG, personal care and industrial goods.
Chocolates and confectionery packaging
“We have been mindful of which business to go after and which to avoid. Chocolates and confectionery happened organically as there was a good ecosystem around us for these products,” Jain said.
These are me-too products, and so they rely heavily on packaging to make them aspirational and premium. Packaging is where most of their spend is, he said. “Chocolate and confectionery manufacturers are quality-, price-, and service-conscious, and so it’s a demanding industry.”
Vijayshri has trained its team even in printing, pre-printing and post-printing. “We have been mindful of staying away from other businesses such as liquor and alcohol, with a singular focus on food, and more specifically, chocolates and confectionery.”
Impact of war on Iran
The sharp increase in raw material prices and the constant fluctuation hamper the market’s stability. “It hampers the profitability of converters like us because every time there is a spike, everybody gets into a panic and start buying even when they don’t even require.”
“When customers are stocked up and the market does not require so many products, the cash flow gets affected. Retailers are not able to pay the brands, which are not able to pay us, he explained.
“When we buy a commodity like paper, our payment terms are quite strict and straightforward. So, we have to bear the brunt of that dried-up cash flow. Profitability takes a hit,” he added.
Every year there is a new crisis that affects the prices and availability of raw materials – sometimes a fire in a chemical plant, sometimes Covid, sometimes Russia invading Ukraine, and now the war in the Gulf, he said, adding he doesn’t think the next two-three years will be different.
Indian paper & paperboard industry
Jain said he feels bullish about the growth of the paper and paperboard industry in absolute terms. However, he feels paper is losing out to plastics in terms of business share.
“The pie of packaging will keep getting bigger as more and more disposable income comes in. However, the plastics’ pie will keep on getting bigger,” he added.
Jain said Vijayshri’s conversion capacity going into FY 2026-27 was around 2,200 tons per month. “We converted 2,215 metric tons in September 2026. Work is underway on our third plant. We are adding 1,10,000 square feet of manufacturing space, which will increase our production capacity by at least 45-50%. Our conversion capacity should be around 3,000 metric tons going into January 2027.”
Vijayshri Packaging has a 500 kVA solar power plant at its Indore premises. “In fact, it is more like 625 kVA. It was 490 kVA to begin with and then we did an enhancement. When our third plant gets commissioned in January, we will add another 350 or 400 kVA, taking the total to over 1000 kVA.”
