Weldon Celloplast has been a regular exhibitor at Labelexpo Europe since 2005. Exhibiting for the fifth time, the company’s stand is divided into two parts, informed Harveer Sahni, managing director, Weldon. He said, “The two sections: manufacturing division and marketing division. The manufacturing section will be managed by my younger son K D Sahni who heads our manufacturing division, while myself and my elder son Pawandeep will be shuffling in between the stands of our principals. We offer virtually everything a label printing company needs either through our manufacturing division or through our more than 20 principals.”

Sahni said that Labelexpo Europe is an event where customers from all corners of the world connect. “If we are present there, the world is aware of our existence and offerings,” added Sahni.

Sahni has been a witness to the growth of Indian label industry for decades. Speaking to PrintWeek India about the factors driving the growth of the industry, Sahni said, “Growth in Indian label industry is inevitable. There is a young literate workforce rising from within the population and creating a steadily swelling, whopping big middle class that has money to spend. This ensures the growth and continued demand of consumer goods and eventually labels. The ongoing currency crisis and rising prices are deterrents. Too much capacity in a short time may appear as a threat but in a market of India’s size this threat appears to be temporary as eventually the demand of labels does grow.”

Speaking about the trends in the industry, Sahni said, “Label being the face of all consumer products on the shelves, it becomes imperative for the label to be extremely innovative in design and presentation. Multiple decoration, converting  and printing process capabilities will play a large role in printers success in roping in big FMCG end-users and creating products which are supporting the highly specialised marketing endeavors. Short runs will also become a very important segment given the diverse communities residing in India. Companies intend to customise with language, communities, festivals and so on. I am sure the top segment of label printers have to be extremely well equipped.”

“We probably have the widest range of offering on which diverse technologies can be enabled. Printers need not only a brand, they have to buy the capabilities with the brands to be technically superior,” concluded Sahni.