Datta Deshpande, CEO, Pratham Technologies, said, “PrintPack has always been a nice exhibition and we have been participating since 1995. We consistently get good results during the show. This time was no exception. We sold machines worth Rs 4-crore at this show, which is really great considering the current situation worldwide.”

This was the company’s first show in India after the pandemic. “We did not expect this number of footfalls because of the climatic conditions in New Delhi, pollution, and the pandemic fears. But still, the show saw people from all over the country and the quality of the customers was also good. It was not really expected,” Deshpande added.

Deshpande was also conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award during the inauguration of the five-day trade show.

According to him, there are only three companies in the world that manufactures outserts machines. Two of them are German, and they were not in the exhibition. Then there is Pratham Technologies

The company manufactures its machines in India and 50% of its business is exports, with a turnover of more than Rs 45-crore.

The Superfold outsert system is capable of producing 60,000 outserts in a 12-hour shift and produces 5,000 outserts per hour during a normal day. Deshpande says that the ROI is usually around 18 months.

However, he suggests, “What I feel is we have to manufacture machines and face the challenges to make good quality machines with some innovative features, which is possible in India. If we do that, and export the machines to other countries, you can get a good value addition and get a good price.”

He also said that countries abroad don’t make purchase decisions based on price; they need quality, because they cannot afford machine breakdown due to the high labour costs.

The company has registered a subsidiary in the USA called Pratham Technologies USA Inc. In the last two years, Pratham did export business in the USA, Canada, the UK, Europe, worth Rs 40-crore. 

In the future, company is planning to move in automation, such as robotics applications for graphic industry, which has high scope in developed countries.