Ink Jet, like other digital printing technologies, is increasingly becoming a commonly used printing method. The established geographical markets are in advanced industrial countries such as England, Germany, and the United States. However, large emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China are already providing incremental opportunity in terms of acceptance of ink jet technology for various applications including packaging.

Though not as large as China, the Indian market is larger than both Brazil and Russia. The Indian economy is growing rapidly. India is now one of only 10 countries in the world that has a GDP of more than USD 1 trillion, its position being 4th after US, China, and Japan. There are over 100 companies in India that have a market capitalization of more than USD 1 billion each. Over 1000 companies in India have received foreign investment. 125 of the Fortune 500 companies have R & D bases in India. There are 20 Indian companies that figure in Forbes 200 list. Some of the Indian companies are bigger than the top global companies in their respective or related industries. For example, two Indian companies - Infosys and TCS are bigger than Accenture, in terms of market capitalization.

The middle class now is about 30% of the population, while the number was about 20% in 2000 and 8% in 1980. The economic growth is fueled by the demands being made by the Indian population of over 1 billion. There are more mobile phones sold in India every month than in any other country in the world.

While this growth is all around, the implications for, and the emerging trends in, the specific sub sectors like hi tech industry need to be studied in greater detail. Information for the core technology providers, digital printing equipment manufacturers, integrators, instrumentation suppliers, consumables and components suppliers is hard to come by. Details about market size, applications, operating environments and the value proposition for digital printing is not readily available.

Some relative indicators are available. There are about 500 shopping malls under various stages of planning and construction. As the literacy rate has grown from 17% in 1950 to 65% in 2000, the information to be printed on packaging needs to be enhanced and more customized. Various state governments are passing laws to print the variable information on medicines-packaging in local languages too. And there are 18 official languages, with almost each one having their own script.

To generate and reveal emerging trends in the emerging markets, rigorous research is needed at local levels.