Bal Krishan Khindria: A life dedicated to manufacturing

For a manufacturing company based in India, product development did not come easy. “We had our limitations. We had to look for guidance. We would visit exhibitions like Drupa to see what was going on, what kind of products they were making and selling. We also studied the market to understand what was happening elsewhere in the world. As a rule of thumb, whatever happens outside, it will happen in India after five years. In one year, we saw just one camera in Drupa and we knew, the camera was going out,” Khindria said. For him, creating a new product was not just a business aspiration. “It’s our passion to be able to offer new products to customers. In exhibitions, customers come to our stall to see new products. This is our strong point. Sometimes the products work, sometimes they don’t. But we are always innovating,” he had told PrintWeek India in an early interview

Memory started in 1968. During the initial years, the company grew leaps and bounds. By 1982, it had started our factory in Noida, UP and was manufacturing pre-press and post-press equipments, such as exposing frames, contact printers, FRP sinks, etc. Khindria explained the reason for this growth: Customer satisfaction. We gave what the customers wanted. And we serviced all equipment free for many years.”

Khindria with Sandeep Saini of Boettcher India during Wan-Ifra 2015 in Mumbai. Remembering the early days, he had told PrintWeek India: “Earlier, printing was not a respectable business. It was called a chhaapakhana. It was a manual, time-consuming affair. Again, you needed space to set up a printing unit. You needed labour. Even the owners were not educated. I was convinced that times were changing and soon, printers would have to shift from letterpress to offset.”

Born in Lahore in 1945, Khindria studied in a Christian school in Delhi, which, he said, instilled discipline in him. He wanted to be an engineer, but that did not happen, “since I was not a bright student. Then I decided that I should learn while I earn. I did not want to be a burden on my parents,” he told to PrintWeek India in an early interview

Khindria, whose motto in life was passion, hard work and honesty, had this advice to give to an aspiring printer: “Enter the packaging industry. The future is in packaging.” His advice to manufacturers: “Rely more on skills. Skilled people are useful.”

Khindria with team members of Memory, Savatech and Press Sense. Khindria did his graduation from Delhi University and joined a travel agency. He left the job after six years. He joined Monotype on September 15, 1970 as a liaison cum sales executive and worked there for 10 years before starting Memory.