Sukumar Das, executive director of UBS Publishers' Distributors Ltd, said that though digital printing is still in its infancy in India yet everyone expect a lot from this technology.

"Visit a publisher's warehouse and you will find stacks and stacks of books piled up, unsold because the publisher made a wrong estimation of the market. In fact, it is simply not possible to understand the amount of business a book will generate. Huge inventories, which also mean, huge investments are stocked up without returns," Das told The Financial Express.

Digital printing is set to change this scenario. Information, or in the publishing language, manuscripts if stored in a computing network can be printed directly from the computer. It can be operated on small print-runs, which makes the wholeprocess commercially viable. The process will also solve the problem of carrying forward large-scale inventories.

"A publisher will no longer have to depend on his instincts about the expected interest of a particular title, in other words, a book. You have the manuscript stored in the computer and once you get an order, a copy can be printed out. It makes publishing commercially and also technically feasible," Das said.

Digital printing will also help authors to update their works regularly and still reach out to readers without waiting for the next reprint. This technology can be best utilised by research workers for publishing an updated report regularly.

However, the cost of a digital printer is still out of the Indian publishers' reach.

"The cost of a digital printer ranges from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 5 crore, depending on its quality and use of its applications. The world-famous American company Xerox is a manufacturer of digital printers. However, to my information, so far no publisher has found itexpedient to install a digital printer," he said.

Das, who is also the chairman of Chemicals and Allied Products Export Promotion Council, said publishers are using digital printers for their promotional material.

"Printing of promotional material can better be undertaken, at this stage, through this process. Publishers in the UK or the US have been extensively using this technology for marketing their titles to create wider market at lesser expense. This is the second best option after the internet," he said.

In India, however, it is hardly noticed that a publisher is also the printer. The job is being entrusted to the printers or jobbers.

Das added: "In a few incidents, a publisher is also a printer, like Navneet Publications and Hiralal Printers, who are successful publishers of children's books and S Chand in textbooks. Printing and publishing have been viewed as two different professions. The publisher is successful if he is able to make his product available to his readers. On the other hand,unless suitably equipped, the printer is basically concerned with the printing mechanism."