In 2005, 46 trillion pages were printed worldwide and eight per cent of it was with the use of digital technology. By 2010, the projection is that 52 trillion pages will be printed annually with 10 per cent of it through digital technology.

On the commercial printing space, the end customer now wants more of instant, customised and variable data printing. “Even in the age of online data storage and data transmission, there are some segments that cannot do without printing,” he points out. “Printing will never die.”

Digital, with its variants, has its advantages over conventional printing technologies to meet the newer customer demands. Earlier, it will be cost effective to have 100s or 1000s of copies printed. With digital printing, substratum and volume are not the limitations, he points out.

Talking about the demand in different segments, Mr. Karuturi explains:

“For instance, let us take the case of the label and packaging sector.

“With the retail boom, new products get to the shelf regularly and overnight decisions are taken on sales strategies. These need to be conveyed to the public. A medium is required to tell customers about the products and customer services.” And, printing steps in to meet this demand.

Another area is photography. Photo calendars, photo cards, and wedding photo albums are all strong markets where digital printing is getting popular. New markets are created here with new products.

During festival seasons, a number of end customers want to personalise the cards with photos of their choice. Here the volume needed is not high, yet the demand has gone up on quality.

Similarly, in large scale meetings, the participants are given customised messages. These are some new markets catered to by digital printing technology.

With constant development and advancements, the upgradation often happens on the software side. At HP too, at least a couple of products or enablers are introduced every year in the Indian market, which is one of the largest growing markets in the Asia Pacific region.

The newer variants create newer markets and these help the corporate institutions and other customers gain loyalty. In the coming years, volumes will come from advertising, publishing, customised manuals, educational institutions, and labels and packaging segments, he adds.

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