Six UV systems being installed at three Times of India print sites are the latest Indian application of the curing technology.

Despite its higher ink costs, UV provides a route to glossy semicommercial production for newspaper publishers on their existing coldest equipment.

At Times of India, IST Metz watercooled systems are being installed on the double-width one-around manroland Regioman presses with the support of local agents NewsTech India and their factory-trained engineers.

The installation of the German-made systems follows that of a three systems on Colorman presses at HT Media's Greater Noida plant in July. Similar equipment had also been installed at ABP - from which Times technical director Snehasis Roy joined earlier this year - and on a single-width Manugraph HiLine at Bangla newspaper Bartaman Patrika.

IST Metz says the satisfaction of HT Media's management with a system installed in Mumbai in 2015, and of Snehasis Roy at ABP, had been factors in the orders. Times of India "had tried other systems previously without much success", the company said.

Major components including lamps, ballast system and reflectors are all made at IST Metz in Nürtingen, Germany, and the company says systems can be tailored to suit individual needs and budgets.

Pictured (from left): IST web sales head Volker Selg, Snehasis Roy, IST sales managing director Holger Kühn,
Bennett, Coleman & Co director Shyam Shanker, IST web sales manager Jürgen Merz, IST chief executive Christian Metz, and IST technical managing director Robert Sänger

A watercooled IST Metz 3 UV lamp on a manroland Colorman at HT Media in Greater Noida