Rapid growth in demand for news inks in India is being addressed by manufacturers, with two Japanese companies among those upping local production.

Recent weeks have seen both Toyo and Sakata commissioning their second plants: Toyo’s new site is in Dahej and Sakata Inx’s in Panoli, both in western India’s Gujarat region.

President Kotaro Morita visited in July for Sakata’s celebrations in Panoli, where the plant is the second on an eight hecatare site earmarked for further growth. The company claims all of India’s major news publishers as its customers, and managing director VK Seth says he hopes it will become their primary supplier. A key target is the specific demands made by increasingly-popular high-speed double-width presses.

Toyo has spent an estimated $17 million on a new facility in Dahej, several times larger than that in Greater Noida and plans to meet export as well as domestic demand. Established seven years ago, the local subsidiary has a partner in Ankleshwar for the production of organic pigments.

Chief executive and managing director Bodi Kampani says the company also plans to increase production of ink for inkjet and gravure applications in Greater Noida.