Pranav Parikh, notches 70 years on 18 February. The champion of CTP is described as "the Amitabh Bachchan of PrintWood" by Manoj Mehta of Utility PrintPack - an explanation so full of grandeur; that there is always the risk of failure. Mehta who manages one of India's premium packaging converting firms in Changodar states, "Pranavbhai (as Parikh is fondly called) is one of India's best technocrats."

One reason for such hyperbole is, Parikh has systematically been boosting the value of his company, against global odds, for over four decades.

The main thing about Parikh is he has done all that he has done in a tantalising simple and down-to-earth manner, especially when he describes what he was doing and his technology philosophy. 

Sometimes I wonder why many more Indian manufacturers have not imitated his business model. Or tried to match his success model. Before his time we had Sanat Shah of Manugraph and MM Kohli of The Printer's House. Both legends in the web offset press manufacturing. But there has been no chronicle of their print stories. Perhaps Parikh's bio-essay can be the start of a series ...

The formative years

Interestingly enough, Parikh is also part of the larger family business that includes Lee and Muirhead, a company that owes its genesis to his father.

The history is as follows: Senior Parikh had come to Bombay to seek his fortune and used to sit in an Irani restaurant in the evenings, where he could meet businessmen and brokers. One evening a broker suggested that he could buy out Lee and Muirhead for all of Rs 50,000. Lee was leaving and Muirhead only lent his name to the business. The senior Parikh did not understand what the company did. But he did some quick math: Even if the business failed, he could still make a lot of money by simply renting out the office. It is quite another story that the business grew and eventually led to other businesses like Printwell, TechNova and, among other things, DHL Lemuir, a joint venture with DHL.

Today, Parikh is chairman and managing director of TechNova. The company was started in 1971 and today is one of the largest manufacturers in the world for offset plates, graphics art chemistry and digital print media. When I mentioned to him, what is happening to the big three in the new world order? He responded, you mean, "the big four". He is very conscious of the fact that TechNova is the world's fourth largest plate manufacturer.

Living in the moment

The virtue of these snapshots is they demonstrate just how consistent Parikh has been. But when questioned, he says, he is distinctly uncomfortable about the past and prefers to "love the present and plan for the future".

And yet, you have instances from the early days of Parikh, when he invested in a technology, and saw the value appreciate and TechNova factories multiply.

Parikh’s appeal has always spread beyond his technology suaveness, helped by his self-deprecatory sense of humour and ability to explain complex technical terms in a down-to-earth manner. There is something fairy-tale -like about his success - the decent, no-nonsense Gujarati businessman with a touch of spiritualism and an obeisance to Swami Ramdas.

It is this which has been part of Parikh’s iconoclasm. Faheem Agboatwala, the director at Hi-Tech Printing Services, a pharma specialist printer who lunches with Parikh once a month to discuss the finer things in life, including print, acknowledges this when he says, “Thank you PNP for teaching us how to manage success with the utmost humility!”

A lot of Parikh is well-polished sophisticatedness. Be it: the love for Apple gizmos or Raza’s “bindu paintings”. P Narendra of Pragati Offset says, "In one word - he is suave - which Wikipedia defines as charming, confident and elegant. This is as far as the appearance goes. In packaging terms I must say what's in the pack is as good as it the pack looks. Knowledgeable, able to get across his point of view very well, presenter par excellence and the list goes on. Our Indian printer community must be proud that we have someone so capable in our midst."

The Printwell days

Competitors and his closed group of advisors will attest that Parikh has always been tougher and more ruthless than he tends to present himself. This goes back to the early days when he ran a mean printing press, Printwell, in the heart of Mumbai. Some of the print managers on the shopfloor who have seen the nuts and bolts side of Parikh says, he ensures every iota of spare capital is well utilised, and prudent cost-cutting at PrintWell was a way of life. And above all, top quality managers some of whom transformed into print technocrats (Ramesh Soni, Mangesh Kulkarni, Dinesh Tipnis, Kiran Pansare, Ganesh Bharambe, Vineet Jadhav, Iqbal Kherodawala) - and continue to serve the industry today.

Haymarket’s print production manager Sanjeev Govekar who served under Parikh looks back, “One should truly learn from PNP’s infinite patience, plus the way he handled customers. Especially editors like Rauf Ahmed for whom Printwell printed a top magazine.” 

Govekar continues, “Even today, even after PNP has become a big man, he remains a printer at heart. He is a connoisseur of colour and the master of the dot. This helps him connect with printers and the industry so well.”

Govekar concludes, "PNP tested plates, created proofs on the Printwell machines. He did this personally. For us, Printwell was a training school. That’s why those of us who left Printwell never said we exited. We used to say, we passed out."

The digital yatra

It's a long journey since the fire at Printwell which also gutted the TechNova godown. But it was the classical mythology, phoenix rising from the ashes. For me, one of the most striking images was to see him shoulder to shoulder with Benny Landa in Europe launching the Indigo in 1995. Later "the digital press" was flown to Pragati Maidan. It was razzle-dazzle and great showmanship. But the digital journey in India had not begun. Parikh says wistfully, "We were ahead of the times."

The firm was at the cross-roads. Nearly 18 years later, his digital print stance stands vindicated. Today TechNova has announced its marketing alliance with Konica Minolta.

Parikh’s explanation is so straightforward it is almost humdrum, "we listen to our customer". 

That is how, TechNova made money. It did so, by selling plates through solid credit policy, earnings potential and customer service support rather than by trading wizardry. It was the gospel taught by Professor Shoji Shiba, the father of breakthrough management and TQM, and Parikh ensured TechNova was his finest disciple.

In the mid-nineties, TechNova created and launched NovaDom. It was a polyester laser plate which could be brought cheap, the process sans all the cumbersomeness, and- it was hardly rocket science. Yet it was the ideal product for India in a world has which was aspiring to transition to high cost whizz-bang products. Novadom ensured TechNova shifted from doggedness to excitement. This excitement was adrenalin pumping, when NovaDom bagged the Oscars for print innovation. It was the recipient of the prestigious GATF 1995 InterTech Technology Award.

The Man from Mahalaxmi knew he had a world beater on his hand. It was time to leverage.

Consolidating CTP

A short while later, TechNova with the aid of their technology partnership with Agfa was to kick-start the CTP yatra. In a nation where wipe-on and deep-etch and regrained plates continue to gain currency, this was tough. 

As the 20th century was transitioning to the 21st century,  I recall Parikh defying this trend by working hard, criss-crossing the country, trying to persuade print firms CEOs about a commodity (plates) which had been sufficiently undervalued. He ignored the barrage of criticism (internal and external) that this was another mistake like the HP Indigo blunder. TechNova was relentless with CTP, and the firm introduced a raft of products and technologies. At a personal level, Parikh and his CTP roadshows and seminars were a crusade. He was unstoppable like Mahendra Singh Dhoni on a good day.

The company nosed ahead on all fronts. Thermal, violet, UV-CTP and inkjet. This is over and above the PS plate market. Plus a spanking new plant in Taloja in 2008 which was among the best. The future was looking bullish.

TechNova and the Indian printer

But all this traction had its pitfalls. The company was growing too fast. And the TechNova army, scattered all  across the country, faltered. There were a couple of false starts; peeved printers, plus aggressive and at times much-more nimbler competitors. The industry was growing and there were new print firms and new-age CEOs who were not on the charm radar of Pranav Parikh. 

And so, this meant, at times, the printer and TechNova were at loggerheads. Chittranjan Choudhary, the chartered accountant cum head of CDC, a top firm in Kolkata says, "I do not have a very good impression of the company. I would not much of the person (Pranav Parikh) since I’ve never met him. I only hope my impression of the company being very printer unfriendly is wrong."

Besides such murmurs of disapproval and alienation, the Anti Dumping Duty became a long drawn out battle which washed the print industry’s dirty linen in public. Some printers felt, TechNova is right about a reference price. And that if one imports below that price then Anti Dumping Duty is applicable. A vociferous group disagreed.  Their common perception was: it's monopolistic and dangerous. This led to a bitter debate. More importantly, it led to brutal bruises on all sides.

The guy up there

In such legal battles, the "spiritual head" remained Parikh's biggest asset. He feels even his staunchest critics are "good in the core of their heart". And when asked about the secret of his success, he jokes, "Am I successful?

This is followed by a short pause. 

Then Parikh adds, "It's because of the guy up there. That's my answer."

Perhaps this attitude has always helped Parikh, and provided a bit of distance from the madding crowd of print customers who seek a tough bargain and who want a piece of him, 24/7.

At the end, the thing that made Parikh an icon, is not his sharpness with balance sheets nor the ability to negotiate but his print rootedness. He says he loves printers. And he still has "faith" in print. It is this passion which top printers reciprocate. As Narendra of Pragati says, "Keep it up Pranavbhai. My grandson is also Pranav. Hope he - and other young printers in this country - grows up and emulate this great personality."

Happy Birthday Mr Parikh!