After speaking with some of the label industry suppliers and converters in the country, we have done some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Our estimate is that in the 2021-22 financial year that ended on 31 March 2022, about 40 to 45 narrow web flexo label presses were installed by Indian converters. About 65% of these were built by four Indian manufacturers in the Delhi NCR region. The majority of the India-made presses were from Multitec — the balance coming from UV Technologies, Alliance Printech, and NBG. In addition, there were about half a dozen digital label press installations but we will talk about these in our next issue.
The Indian label presses have improved in quality on the whole and the factors of local service and competitive prices make them compelling to at least look at for those label converters who earlier exclusively purchased narrow web flexo presses from the European, American, and Japanese manufacturers. The four Indian manufacturers also exported narrow web flexo press last year. Multitec, of course, has exported presses for many years and has exhibited at the Labelexpo in Brussels several times.
Although India is a healthy market for label presses, exports are key to the growth of the Indian label press manufacturers. In the words of one industry veteran, “We sell our presses in India at very competitive prices and we will not survive if we do not export.” All four label press manufacturers exported presses and they expect these numbers to rise. This is in addition to the European manufacturer Nilpeter, with its factory near Chennai, which primarily builds label presses for exports and sells a few in the Indian market.
The current financial year 2022-23
The current financial year, it seems will bring the industry back towards a level of capacity building not seen for many years. We expect on the basis of our conversations with industry suppliers and converters that the number of flexo label press installs will increase from 25% to 30%.
The four Indian-owned manufacturers will increase their in-country installations by approximately 50% over the previous year. At the same time, the overseas manufacturers are likely to achieve numbers similar to the previous year – or at most increase them by one or two presses. They are feeling the crunch not only from the local manufacturers but also from the supply chain and energy issues in Europe and North America that have increased their prices by 10% to 15%.
The Indian press suppliers are confident about their competitiveness in the local market and optimistic about exports. They are hoping to increase their capacities within the year – to anywhere from 30% to 200%.
