The platesetters, along with complete workflow solutions, have been installed at Sakshi newspaper, as part of the first phase of an agreement which will see nine more platesetters, a Glunz & Jenson processor and Artitex workflow, added later.
The Hyderabad-based Jagati Publications has created waves with its March launch of a Telegu daily newspaper – Sakshi.
Sakshi's launch featured 23 editions and sold 1.28m copies, making it what is believed to be the single largest launch in India's history.
With the new equipment and software, which includes Quark Xpress, 4C+, Adobe, Linux, Oracle and Microsoft, the paper is set to print 30 full-colour pages daily, on a battery of Manugraph machines.
Jagati has sent a clear signal to rivals Eenadu, which has an all-India circulation of 1,116,275 copies (ABC figures for January to June, 2007), and a current value of Rs 4,600 crore (£577.2m).
Sakshi has been valued at Rs 3000 crore (£376.3m) by Deloitte, according to Jagati chairman Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy – son of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister.
He said: "Right now, we have 20 investors who are rated very highly in the venture capital circles. This includes India Cements and Karvy Consultants."
When PrintWeek India asked why Sakshi targeted the media sector, he said: "Eenadu got complacent. The newspaper should have changed its design and opted for all pages colour long ago. It left a vacuum in the market for Sakshi to get in."
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"£1.8m !! Very big numbers indeed."
"Now black really is white. Ditching a product line with all its consequences for customers is now an award winning move. Priceless!"
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