Day 3-4 Newsletter, 26-27th October 2013
Commenting on the kind of marketing strategy Indian paper companies should adopt, Mr. S.N. Venkatraman, Vice President – Marketing, ITC – Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division (PSPD), the largest manufacturer of packaging and graphic boards in South Asia, said, “While formulating its marketing strategy, a large paper company in India normally faces challenges such as relative weakness over international competitors in terms of resources; capacity-cum-price-led approach by most sellers; lack of progressive and transparent standards guiding the exchange process; fragmented market and supply chain, distribution and taxation challenges; and a print market that is growing impressively, where more buyers are seeking world-class products. However, the present low per capita paper consumption, increasing government spending on education, consumers and the strength of the Indian publishing, printing and packaging industry will ensure that paper and paper board consumption continues to increase over the next 8 to 10 years. With the growing internationalisation of the Indian market, the domestic paper industry will have to upgrade its standards to reach global benchmarks, improve operational and distribution efficiencies and develop superior products and communicate their value more attractively than before.”
Speaking about the new product developments that have taken place at ITC, he said, “We continuously monitor performance of our products against both internal and market benchmarks and strive to improve the value derived by the customer. We also seek to provide solutions to specific business challenges that customers or segments face. Based on a collaborative effort – with our customers and their emerging needs – we have recently launched improved product versions such as Carte Lumina – virgin board with brilliant aesthetics and performance parameters, NeoWhite Bliss – high performance board made of recovered fibre, Nanobev – coated beverage board designed for small drinking cups, Indobarr Can – heat sealable board with excellent printability for canisters, Permawhite – paper with high archival value for educational books and premium diaries and Delgado and Pharma Print – thin printing paper with brilliant opaqueness and dead-fold properties. Our new products include barrier boards with dispersion polymer treatments providing water and grease resistance and Omega Bev/Barr – a 100 per cent compostable board coated with biopolymer.”
