Varad Deshpande: We work with our customers as solution providers

How does your company and your products embody the spirit of excellence that the Awards aims to celebrate?
The PrintWeek Awards celebrate world-class Indian printers that make our country proud globally. Pratham is proud to be associated with such world-class printers and together, we are an ecosystem of made in India companies, and not make in India. Our aim has always been to develop reliable products and technologies that offer advanced features which even our competitors don’t offer, but at a reasonable price along with an excellent customer support. We like to work with our customers as their solution providers and trustworthy partners. 

What can our industry learn from the Award winners and shortlisted companies? 
In India, we always look towards diversifying our offering so we don’t have to depend on only one customer segment. However, in that process, we end up compromising on quality, delivery and standards, and we end up losing more and more market share globally. Many of our global customers in Europe and USA are dedicated to only pharmaceutical leaflet business and are able to create a larger impact by doing so while being highly profitable. Similarly, the award-winning printers in India have also chosen that path towards excellence, and have delved deeper into their respective segments to achieve the impossible. This is the most important takeaway in my opinion. 

Which are the products that you showcased at Drupa you are particularly proud of in the context of excellence?
Drupa 2024 was a highlight in Pratham’s success in this year. We were ready to show our new technologies in 2020 itself, but unfortunately, the show got cancelled because of Covid. For the first time, we showcased our fully automatic outsert system with glue, tape and size inspection and a robotic tray packer assisted by a Cobot for box packing. Additionally, we also displayed an automatic six-pocket pile feeder with a cross knife for commercial and book-folding applications. 

What specific contributions have your products made to driving excellence within the industry?
A total of 80% of our sales come from the exports business. We export all over Europe, the UK, USA, Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Through our products, our service and our strong values and culture, we try to demonstrate what India is capable of achieving in today’s modern world. Our solutions in automation, our features in folding machines, and our relationships with our customers are what drives this industry forward. 

Are we doing enough to fix the perception problem? One thing we should do?
We should focus on our strengths as a country – good relationships, reliability, innovation, and be open to customisation. People don’t look at India as a cheap manufacturer, nor do they perceive us as an expensive company. We should ideally work on finding the right USP that solves our customer’s problems. 

A plant-based spread maker has moved into paper-based tubs. One sustainable product or concept that your team is working on?
We are open to work on new automation and inspection projects in the sustainable packaging industry in the food, pharmaceutical and FMCG sectors. 

A rollercoaster season. One tip you have for the industry for the rest of 2024?
Keep a global perspective, but stick to your Indian values.

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