Epson to strengthen foothold in labels industry in India

According to research by Epson, digital label printers have the biggest domestic share in the industry. Labels and Labeling spoke to Ramprasad about the company’s future plans and strategies in India:

Labels & Labeling (L&L): What is your strategy for promoting SurePress to Indian label printers? And what can you tell the market about the new digital press?

S M Ramprasad (SMP): The new press will be launched a day prior to the opening of Labelexpo Europe. So I won’t say much about it except that it is a technology breakthrough. As of now, we have sold two SurePress L-4033AW and are looking at selling five more in this fiscal year.

L&L: What was your turnover in last fiscal and what is the target this year?

SMP: Epson has been growing at the rate of 25 percent. Last fiscal, we closed at around Rs 702 crore and we are aiming to touch Rs 850 crore by the end of the next financial year.

L&L: What developments will drive this growth? 

SMP: Our key strengths are consumer printers and projectors which are doing extremely well. We have launched a new range of signage printers, a range for CAD printing, fabric printing. SurePress is also a part of our recent launches for commercial printers.

L&L: What percentage is the contribution of the labels division in the company's overall growth?

SMP: The label division is getting established. We are making an effort to get a strong foothold in the Indian market. Five new installations is not a big revenue in terms of percentage as compared to other divisions for Epson but this is just a beginning. We do not have a major contribution coming from the label division today but we are trying to strongly launch Epson in this segment and have a roadmap for the next three to five years on how we want to grow. The labels division is part of the Industrial Solution segment and we see a significant contribution of 10 to 20 percent from this division in the next three to five years. In next two to three years, we will reap the benefits of what we are doing today.

L&L: How do you view the future of the Indian label market?

SMP: There is a tremendous scope to scale up our growth as far as digitalization of the label industry in India is concerned. We feel that digital can be installed wherever there is an analog machine. As for Epson India, we are not competing with analog, rather we will be complementing it.

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