Saket Kanoria is the managing director of TCPL (formerly Twenty-First Century Printers Limited)- and one of the largest manufacturer of printed cartons and converters of paperboard in India with plants in Silvassa and Haridwar plus a design firm Accura Reprotech. The multi-locational company has presence in the overseas markets as well, accounting for 20% of annual revenues. TCPL is an ISO 9001:2008, ISO 22000:2005, BRC/IoP certified and SEDEX Compliant packaging company.

Saket Kanoria speaks to PrintWeek India about TCPL's financial results and the demand growth within the packaging industry.

"We are enthused about the demand in growth of the packaging industry on the back of aggressive plans envisaged by our clientele. FMCG and the food sector offers tremendous opportunity for our packaging products. In recent years, we have installed a raft of high-end printing kit of up to 10 colour in Silvassa and Haridwar besides upgrading older six colours to 10 colour machines.

TCPL, which has three plants at Silvasa, strengthened its multi-locational printing packaging operations after setting up its Hardiwar plant in 2005.The total cost of setting up its Haridwar facility in a newly formed tax-free industrial area is Rs 30 crore.

The Haridwar plant was formally showcased to visitors and TCPL customers on 14 and 15 October 2011. The plant converts 1,400 tons of board packaging every month, and employs 230 employees and boasts of a turnover of Rs 125 crore.

It is the firm’s third investment in a six-colour press at Haridwar. These installations will be supplemented by die-cutters, folder gluers and laminators for converting.

After installing the KBA Rapida with corona effect, we have increased our capacity by ten times. Now, we can do deliver faster to our new and existing customers."

The plant also contains an offline UV varnishing machine as well as gravure metal printing machines for enhancement of print quality and including metallic colours like gold and silver.

On the converting front, TCPL has Bobst die-cutters and folder-gluers and several ancillary equipments which include hot foil stamping machines, window patching-cum-liner machines, a holographic effect machine from Guangdong, foil stamping machine from Yoko and Steinmann lamination machine.

The plant also has an ink matching centre set up by Siegwerk. TCPL’s Haridwar plant and all the three plants in Silvassa are ISO 9001:2008, BRC and ISO 22000 (new standard for ISO, combination of higher standard for food packaging, lays emphasis on hygiene and safety practices and combines ISO 9000) certified.

As part of its expansion plans, TCPL recently purchased an additional plot of land in the vicinity of this plant to set up a corrugation unit that will mainly produce E-flute corrugated cartons. The unit is expected to commence operation by March 2012.

The Haridwar facility spans across 10,000 sq/mts of land and has been designed by a Swiss firm of industrial architects. Originally, the total constructed area of this plant covered only 7,000 sq/mts. Post-expansion, the total constructed encompasses around 9,000 sq/mts of plant area.

Now the plant is equipped with two Mitsubishi Diamond 3000 six-colour plus coater sheetfed offset printing presses and a brand-new KBA Rapida 106 (760x160 mm) with corona effect and online coating at the speed of 18,000 impressions an hour. This uniquely designed KBA is the first of its kind in Asia.

As a result of these investments, TCPL is uniquely positioned to provide innovative packaging solutions to existing clientele and adding new clientele.

TCPL is an approved vendor to leading food manufacturing companies in India such as Nestle, General Mills, Ferero, GSK, Kellogg India, Heinz, Amul and Hindustan Unilever.

Besides this, TCPL is a regular exporter to the food and bakery industry in the Netherlands and the UK.

TCPL is one of the largest manufacturers of liquor cartons in India, catering to all liquor majors in the industry. Our clientele includes liquor majors such as Pernod Ricard, Radico Khaitan, Jagatjit Industries, Khoday’s, USL etc.

TCPL is also catering to the Phillip Morris and BAT associate companies in India and other leading cigarette manufacturers in the region.

During 2011-12, TCPL added a third printing machine at Haridwar. Besides, the company has also added a new facility for manufacturing of corrugated cartons at Goa. We are planning to add a factory for manufacturing of corrugated cartons at Haridwar also.

The total capex planned at various locations is Rs 50 cr for 2011-12.

TCPL has set up a corrugated cartons manufacturing unit in Goa. The unit has capacity to manufacture 300 MT per month of corrugated cartons on conversion. As of now there is no printing facility available at the unit. The company will be supplying corrugated cartons to several customers situated in Goa and nearby area. We have invested Rs. 4.5 cr for the machinery and the unit is set up in rented premises.

The company will be able to execute orders of its customers in the vicinity of Goa much faster by keeping inventory of printed sheets at Goa and converting the same into corrugated cartons as per their requirements. We expect larger volume from the existing customers.

In the last few years, we have added new capacities at Silvassa and Haridwar. We are presently consolidating our operations and working on new product offerings. These activities, we are confident, will deliver robust growth in next few years.

Currently we do not have any plan for inorganic growth, but we may consider if suitable opportunity is available.

During quarter ended December 2011, our gross sales have gone up to Rs. 81.43 cr from Rs. 64.28 cr as against the same quarter of the previous year, showing an increase of 27%. At the same time EBIDTA has increased from Rs. 9.40 cr to Rs. 12.65 cr, representing 35% growth.

The EBIDTA margin improved substantially to 16.42% as against 14.62% in the previous year. The increase in EBIDTA level is due to high value orders, spurred by new product designs and better export realization.

For the nine months ended December 2011, gross sales were Rs. 214.2 cr, up 17.2% and EBIDTA of Rs. 31.8 cr against Rs. 25.4 cr. PAT was Rs. 4.68 cr against Rs. 4.71 cr.

Gross sales are expected to increase at 20% p.a. in FY12 while the bottom line should improve correspondingly."

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