Four-year-old Telangana daily Namasthe Telangana is branching into contract work with the purchase of a new German-made newspaper press.

The Indian publisher will install a four-tower manroland Cromoman 4-1, the 'made for India' double-width, one-around format popular for its flexibility and speed.

Namasthe Telangana is a registered Telugu language newspaper launched in 2011, and focussed on politics and state news. Owned by Telangana Publications, it is published in ten different districts.

Operations general manager Srinivas Ch says the four-year-old daily has already revolutionised the newspaper market in Telangana: "We are very successful journalistically as well as economically, and our investment into a very modern manroland press reflects this development," he says.

The company looked closely at the press series, taking efficient and energy-saving production, combined with high output into account. "It's the ideal equipment for our growing business and in future we will be able to offer even better quality to our readers and advertising customers."

The press will also position the company for the future, equipping it to handle a variety of other work in addition to the daily newspaper, including contract printing. "The press also produces excellent heatset quality for magazines, and its variable web width means customer requirements can be fulfilled flexibly", he says.

The four-tower Cromoman can print a variety of products - broadsheets up to 32 pages or two 16-page products, two books in parallel production, or quarterfold magazines - at speeds up to 75,000 cph.

Automation systems include automatic web-up and closed loop colour register and cut-off control.

Some 25 manroland newspaper presses have been installed in India in recent years, in addition to one commercial press. the company has offices in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

Pictured after the contract signing (from left) are A. Nagraja (sales manager), Pankaj Bhasin (managing director of manroland India), Erich Wagner (deputy vice president manroland web systems), D. Damodar Rao (managing director of Namasthe Telangana) and Srinivas (Namasthe Telangana general manager operations)

Below: A manroland Cromoman at Times of India in Pune