Chenga Reddy, managing director of Citrus, has spent 32 years in the print business, 14 years of which were with Pragati Offset, where he helmed the label division. “When we began printing label at Pragati, it was a small unit, today it is quite a decent set-up,” said Reddy.

The parting with Pragati, Reddy said, was quite amicable. “The parting was difficult, but I don’t see any competition here. There is a market for all types of customers, small, medium or big. It’s which range of customers you cater to.

Pritam Choudhury (l), managing director at Manipal International Printing Press, Kenya along with colleague S Mallya, operations manager with team Vinsak

Reddy added, “At Pragati, our USP was quality and on-time delivery, every time. There was the commitment and the dedication, and we worked on that model and achieved success. That’s not going to change with this venture of mine. We will replicate the same model at Citrus.”

The Lombardi press, Reddy opted for is the Synchroline 330, an eight-colour UV press with the chill drum, rotary die-cutting, inline sheeting and the ability to print on substrate thickness of 12-400 micron. “We are going a step ahead and adding security and VDP label printing to our portfolio, multi-layer labels, short-run shrink sleeve. We are going to target the supply chain at the top of the pyramid,” said Reddy. And for this Citrus has also invested in a Vinsak’s digital label printing and finishing solution.