According to M Aravindh of Shiva Texyarn, Shiva’s textile-based substrates are compatible with the same manufacturing inks and machines that print on flex. The only difference is flex being 30% cheaper than the fabrics. Shiva also has a solution for hoardings, which enables the banners to last for more than a year.

He also mentioned that there has been a significant increase in the demand for textile-based alternatives after the ban on PVC flex in Kerala and Bengaluru. “In Kerala, the per day printing capacity for banners is four lakh sq/ft. Due to the change in regulations, currently, close to 2.5 lakhs fabrics is being printed per month. After the ban, we have tripled the growth in sales there,” said Aravindh.

In addition, he explained that these textilebased solutions have a long way to go as, currently, in India approximately 2,15,000 tonnes of PVC flex is consumed per year and the fabric consumption is not even 0.01 percent of that number.