Konica Minolta sees digital printing moving from press-centric to application- and workflow-led investment
As the first six months of the financial year 2026–27 draw to a close, PRESSIdeas reached out to leading digital printing equipment suppliers across India to take stock of the market so far and understand what lies ahead. We asked industry players to share their assessment of the first half of the year, the key trends influencing demand and investment, and their outlook for the next six months. This is the second in the series of PRESSIdeas Digital Printing Industry Pulse 2026–27, where we spoke with Mr.Katsuhisa “Kurt” Asari, MD, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. bringing together his perspectives from across the industry for the benefit of our readers.
Konica Minolta sees digital printing
The company sees positive momentum in India’s digital production printing market, with growing opportunities in labels, packaging, personalised communications and on-demand production. Automation, workflow integration and the ability to generate profitable utilisation are expected to increasingly influence investment decisions.
The Indian digital printing market has maintained positive momentum during the first half of FY 2026–27, according to Konica Minolta, with customer requirements becoming more diverse and printers increasingly looking beyond conventional short-run applications.
Konica Minolta says the market is gradually moving towards more automated and integrated production environments. The company also observes a shift in the way printers evaluate technology investments—from simply assessing the capabilities of a printing press to examining how the complete production environment can improve productivity, create new applications and generate additional revenue.
From short runs to a broader application proposition
According to Konica Minolta, digital printing is increasingly being considered for applications beyond its traditional short-run positioning. Faster turnaround, personalisation, versioning, value-added features such as embellishment and the ability to efficiently produce a wider mix of applications are becoming increasingly important.
The company is also seeing greater interest from printers looking to diversify beyond conventional commercial printing into labels, packaging, on-demand production, personalised communications and value-added applications.
The key opportunity, it believes, is increasingly being defined by the applications that digital technology enables rather than simply by the number of pages produced. Konica Minolta describes the broader market as positive and broadly aligned with the structural trends it identified at the beginning of the financial year. However, customer investment decisions remain closely linked to business visibility, expected ROI and the ability of technology to create new revenue opportunities.
The company sees a transition from equipment-led investment towards application- and workflow-led investment, with printers increasingly seeking technologies that improve productivity, reduce manual intervention and enable access to new and higher-value applications.
Positive momentum across digital production printing
Konica Minolta reports continued positive business momentum in India’s digital production printing market, with interest extending across commercial print, high-volume production, labels, packaging and value-added applications.
The company says the opportunity is increasingly developing around a broader ecosystem comprising digital production engines, workflow automation, colour and quality management, application development, finishing and service support. Recent installations also indicate that high-productivity digital production systems are gaining relevance beyond India’s metropolitan markets.
One example cited by the company is the installation of a Konica Minolta AccurioPress C14010S at Snap Kosh in Varanasi, supporting high-speed commercial production, on-demand jobs and value-added output. Konica Minolta sees such developments as evidence of the geographical expansion of digital printing, as printers in emerging markets seek faster turnaround, greater application diversity and the ability to compete on value rather than volume alone.
The company also points to growth in digital print volumes as an important positive indicator for the market.
Labels, packaging and publishing remain key opportunities
Konica Minolta sees strong opportunities across several segments where digital printing provides a clear commercial advantage through shorter runs, faster turnaround, personalisation, versioning and reduced setup requirements. Commercial printing remains an important market, particularly as printers move towards higher-mix and more customised production.
At the same time, labels and packaging are becoming increasingly important growth areas as brands and converters seek shorter production cycles, differentiated packaging and the ability to manage multiple SKUs efficiently. Publishing and book production also remain relevant. Digital printing enables economically viable on-demand and short-run production, helping printers and publishers reduce inventory and respond more flexibly to changing demand.
Across these applications, the common requirement is the ability to produce the right quantity, in the right version, at the right time, with consistent quality and commercially viable economics.
The investment case is becoming multidimensional
The factors driving investment in digital printing are also changing. Historically, the principal argument for digital technology was its economics for short runs. Today, Konica Minolta says customers are assessing a much broader set of parameters, including productivity, automation, turnaround time, application flexibility, waste reduction and the ability to generate incremental revenue.
Shorter print runs and tighter delivery windows continue to support digital adoption, while personalisation and variable-data requirements are creating additional opportunities. Application diversification is another important driver, with printers exploring labels, packaging, books, personalised communications and premium applications.
At the operational level, labour availability and the need for higher productivity are encouraging customers to look for solutions that reduce manual intervention and improve press utilisation. Waste reduction and operational efficiency are also becoming part of the investment equation, particularly where digital production can reduce make-ready and setup waste for short and variable jobs.
For Konica Minolta, perhaps the most significant change is that customers are increasingly asking: “What additional business can this technology help me win?” rather than evaluating a press primarily on its technical specifications.
ROI visibility remains critical
Despite growing interest in digital production, capital expenditure decisions remain closely tied to ROI visibility and overall business confidence. For smaller and mid-sized printers in particular, equipment and financing costs can make investments more difficult to justify. Uncertainty over customer demand and future volumes can also make it difficult to estimate machine utilisation and payback periods.
Competitive pressure on print margins and pricing is another consideration, while rising consumable and substrate costs can affect overall cost-per-print calculations. The availability of skilled operators and the ability to fully utilise increasingly sophisticated equipment also influence investment decisions. Broader economic and geopolitical uncertainty can encourage companies to defer major capital expenditure until market conditions become more predictable.
Konica Minolta believes these factors reinforce the importance of evaluating the complete business case rather than simply the acquisition price of a machine. A productive press capable of automating processes, supporting multiple applications, reducing waste and maintaining high uptime can deliver a substantially different ROI from equipment evaluated purely on its purchase price.
From “How fast is the press?” to “How can it improve my business?”
Konica Minolta identifies a clear change in the way Indian printers evaluate digital press investments. While speed and print quality remain important, customers are increasingly examining total cost of ownership, press utilisation, workflow automation, uptime, service support, substrate flexibility and application versatility.
The company believes this reflects the increasing maturity of India’s digital printing market. Printers are increasingly evaluating the economics of the entire production workflow rather than looking at the press in isolation. Make-ready time, waste, labour requirements, finishing, energy consumption and the ability to handle short, personalised and variable-data jobs are all becoming part of the evaluation.
Beyond operational efficiency, customers are also assessing the revenue potential of the investment, including productivity, application opportunities and overall return on investment.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets gain importance
Konica Minolta sees Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets becoming increasingly important to the next phase of India’s digital printing growth. As businesses, brands and service providers expand geographically, local printers need the ability to deliver faster turnaround, shorter runs and more customised output closer to end customers.
The company is seeing both first-time adopters and established printers upgrading their capabilities, improving productivity and entering new applications. Demand is emerging across commercial and corporate printing, educational and publishing requirements, on-demand books, labels, short-run packaging, marketing collateral, personalised print and regional-language and versioned content.
Konica Minolta describes this development as a “democratisation of digital production technology”, with printers in smaller markets increasingly able to compete on speed, flexibility and application capability rather than scale alone.
Toner and inkjet will coexist
Konica Minolta expects both toner and inkjet to retain important roles in the Indian digital printing market, with technology selection increasingly determined by application, volume, substrate, quality requirements and economics.
Production toner remains relevant for applications requiring high-quality colour, variable data, frequent job changes, shorter runs and a broad application mix. Production inkjet becomes increasingly attractive as volumes rise and customers seek higher productivity in applications where continuous or high-throughput production economics are compelling.
Over the next two to three years, the company expects the strongest inkjet opportunities to emerge where volume, productivity and operating economics justify the technology. Toner, meanwhile, is expected to remain important in high-mix environments where flexibility, quality and job variability are central.
The broader trend, Konica Minolta believes, will be application economics rather than technology ideology determining the choice between the two platforms.
Packaging: a complementary digital production model
Konica Minolta considers packaging a significant and increasingly diverse opportunity for digital printing in India. The company sees the strongest potential in applications where shorter runs, faster turnaround, versioning, personalisation and increasing SKU complexity make digital commercially attractive.
Labels are viewed as one of the most natural entry points, particularly across FMCG, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, personal care and e-commerce. There is also growing potential in folding cartons, corrugated and selected flexible-packaging applications, particularly as brands regionalise packaging, launch more products and develop targeted campaigns.
However, Konica Minolta stresses that the opportunity should be viewed selectively. Conventional processes will continue to remain competitive for long, high-volume runs, while digital is well positioned for short and medium runs, variable production, sampling and faster time-to-market.
The opportunity, therefore, is not simply about replacing analogue production with digital, but about creating a complementary production model in which converters choose the appropriate technology according to run length and application. E-commerce, direct-to-consumer brands, SKU proliferation and demand for customised packaging are expected to support further growth, aided by advances in productivity, substrate compatibility, automation and finishing.
The print factory becomes increasingly software-driven
Konica Minolta believes that the print factory of the future will be defined as much by software and workflow as by the printing engine itself. Over the next 12–24 months, the greatest practical impact is expected from automation that reduces repetitive manual work, improves production predictability and helps printers address skill shortages.
Opportunities include: fields as varied as Job preparation, Workflow optimisation, Colour and quality management, Predictive maintenance, Production analytics, Intelligent job routing, Machine utilisation, Automated quality control and the likes. Automated prepress and job setup can reduce operator dependency and turnaround times, while intelligent workflows can improve job routing and machine utilisation.
Equipment monitoring can identify potential issues before they lead to downtime, while automated quality controls can improve consistency and reduce reprints and waste.
Konica Minolta expects AI to become an increasingly important part of this ecosystem, but believes its commercial value will ultimately be measured through practical outcomes—fewer errors, higher utilisation, lower waste, faster turnaround and improved profitability.
Sustainability increasingly linked to efficiency
Sustainability is becoming more relevant to Indian printers, although economics continues to exert strong influence on investment decisions. For printers, Konica Minolta believes sustainability becomes particularly compelling when it also contributes to operational efficiency, productivity and cost optimisation.
Digital production can support this through lower make-ready waste, on-demand production, reduced overproduction and inventory, more efficient short-run production, reduced paper waste during setup and changeovers, energy-efficient technologies and more precise production planning.
The ability to produce closer to actual demand is particularly relevant in an environment of shorter runs and changing customer requirements. Sustainability expectations are also increasingly being driven by brands and enterprise customers as environmental considerations become more closely integrated into procurement and supply-chain decisions.
The company therefore sees sustainability not as a standalone environmental initiative, but as part of a broader strategy for running a more efficient printing operation.
Positive outlook for the second half
Konica Minolta expects the Indian digital printing market to remain on a positive growth trajectory during the second half of FY 2026–27. Personalisation, shorter print runs, faster turnaround, application diversification, packaging and greater automation are expected to continue supporting market development.
The company anticipates continued interest from printers seeking to upgrade ageing equipment, improve productivity, enter labels and packaging, build personalised-print capabilities, automate prepress and production processes, reduce operational waste and expand into higher-value applications.
The emphasis, however, is increasingly shifting from simply adding capacity to improving overall production capabilities. Konica Minolta believes the second half will favour solutions offering a compelling combination of productivity, flexibility, reliability, workflow integration and ROI.
Three areas to watch
For October 2026–March 2027, Konica Minolta identifies three key areas likely to generate strong demand:
Labels and packaging: Driven by SKU proliferation, shorter product cycles, versioning and demand for differentiated packaging.
Commercial print and personalised communications: Commercial printers are expected to increasingly use digital technology to move towards customised and variable-data applications rather than competing primarily on commodity volumes.
On-demand publishing and book production: Digital production enables printers and publishers to respond to fragmented or uncertain demand, produce smaller quantities and reduce inventory.
Across all three areas, the underlying opportunity is the ability to combine production efficiency with flexibility and customisation.
The biggest opportunity: application expansion
Konica Minolta identifies application expansion as the biggest opportunity for digital printing in India over the next six months. The company believes printers can create new revenue streams by moving beyond conventional commercial printing into labels, packaging, personalised communications, on-demand production, premium applications and embellishment.
Digital printing becomes significantly more valuable when it enables a printer to sell a new service rather than simply produce an existing job on a different machine. This makes application development increasingly important, with technology providers having a role to play in helping printers identify where digital economics can create new business opportunities.
The biggest challenge: profitable utilisation
The principal challenge, according to Konica Minolta, is converting interest in digital printing into profitable utilisation. The issue is no longer necessarily a lack of awareness of digital technology. Rather, printers need to ensure that investments translate into sustainable utilisation and profitability.
This requires a clear understanding of target applications, production economics, workflow requirements and the customer proposition before making major investments. Technology providers therefore have an important role beyond installing equipment—they need to help customers develop the business model around the technology.
A shift from press-centric to application-centric thinking
Looking towards March 2027, Konica Minolta expects the major industry development to be the continued transition from press-centric decision-making to application- and workflow-centric decision-making.
The next generation of printers, the company believes, will increasingly ask not simply “Which press should I buy?” but “How can technology help me automate my production, reduce costs, enter new applications, improve turnaround times and create higher-value revenue streams?”. This will encourage greater integration between printing engines, workflow software, automation, data, finishing and business analytics.
Konica Minolta expects the print factory of the future to become a connected production environment extending from prepress through production and finishing. At the same time, the boundaries between commercial print, packaging, personalisation and digital workplace technologies are likely to become increasingly fluid.
An opportunity printers may be underestimating
Konica Minolta identifies the ability to monetise personalisation and value-added applications as an underexploited opportunity.
Many printers continue to view digital printing primarily as a faster or more economical way of producing conventional print. The larger opportunity, according to the company, is to use digital capabilities to develop entirely new customer propositions—including personalised communications, versioned campaigns, short-run packaging, premium embellishment, on-demand production and highly targeted marketing materials.
Combining print technology with data, automation and finishing can enable printers to move from being print suppliers to solution providers, potentially creating stronger customer relationships, greater differentiation and improved margins.
Konica Minolta’s market assessment
The first half of the financial year 2026–27 has been strong
H2 FY 2026–27: Stronger than H1
Market today: Transformative
Market direction: Efficiency
The Konica Minolta view
The future of digital printing will not be determined solely by faster presses. It will increasingly be determined by how effectively printers combine technology, applications, workflow, automation and data to create profitable business opportunities.