Speaking on the occasion, Ashish Vasudeva, brand innovation and business development manager, HP spoke about the ecosystem of startups in the MSMEs.

“Today, gen-z is not only a driving force in the progress of the country but an important segment for all brands from every perspective. Change is the market dynamics which is visible and most of the things are getting moulded as per the requirements of the digital era. The ecosystem of startups in the MSMEs is increasing at a great pace. In 2016, there were 452 registered startups in India. Today, we have more than one lakh startups generating more than 12 lakh jobs. Startups account for 2-3% of India’s GDP and this contribution is expected to reach 4-5% in the next few years. There are more than four crore registrations of MSMEs in India so far. That huge is the market for us.”

He added, “We have to focus on quality, digitalisation and different types of packaging as per their needs, sometimes because they struggle with the packaging, startups come up with similar looking packaging and their identity gets lost in the market. We keep such things in mind and resolve these issues. That’s why HP Indigo has become a launch pad for a lot of startups.”

Umesh Kagade, segment manager, labels and packaging, HP, said, “The things after the pandemic have changed completely, or we can say they are getting digitalised very frequently. That’s why HP is focusing on digital printing. Things are moving from analogue to digital and market trends are also changing. So has the printing needs. No one wants to get involved in the lengthy and expensive process. In digital, once your design is ready you can send it to printing and all the in-between processes gets eliminated. So, it’s effective, efficient, time and money saving with super quality.”

The TechNova team at the event

Vivek Sonar, director, Quirky Beverages, said, “I started this business in 2016 with the motive to give new choices and flavours to the people. When we think about beverages, the first thing that comes to our mind is Pepsi or Coke. The presence of Indian companies in this segment is still very low. That’s why we stepped into it.” 

The company launched their products, Gabru and Patola in 2016. Sonar said over the years, printing and packaging have played an appreciable role in making the products familiar and popular in the market.

He said, “Any company who doesn’t focus on its printing and packaging pull down its customer experience, which affects the growth of the product in a negative way. The support and technology we got in this journey from HP was considerable. HP helped us maintain the standard and efficiency in a cost-effective manner with its digital printing technologies. HP supports not only professionals but also startups by creating catalogues, brochures, labels and more. Can sourcing and can printing is one of the costliest processes in beverage manufacturing, as huge capital gets blocked in this exercise but with the support of HP, we managed it all. I have seen many products but HP is ahead of all in keeping the colour quality to its maximum. HP has been a great partner in keeping things budget-friendly and on time. Few projects or practices which could have cost lakhs were completed in thousands with HP.”

Ashwani Thapar, founder, Pearl Printers, said, “The digital technology is picking up and in the coming time, the demand for digital printing presses will increase more. HP is one of the leading digital printing press manufacturers, along with TechNova, is a perfect combination for our industry. Short-run jobs with immediate delivery can be done easily on those printing presses. I can say that everyone should visit HP stall in Drupa before finalising their future purchases.”