Packaging is one of the fastest growing sectors, because it spans almost every industry segment. Strong favorable demographic factors such as increasing disposable income, rising consumer awareness, spurt in eCommerce industry and the fact that the world’s leading multinationals are making rapid strides in India’s food, beverage, health, beauty and pharmaceuticals sectors are the prime drivers for growth.

According to RVS Ramakrishna, chairman, National Packaging Conference 2019 and president, Signode India Limited, the growth of the packaging industry is primarily boosted by e-commerce sector and the need for sustainability. "The eCommerce sector in India and China is going through a period of unprecedented growth which has led to the demand for packaging products for the safe shipment of products," he said in the National Packaging Conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

According to Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, the biggest challenge the packaging industry will face is Unpackaging as a growing number of consumers do not want packaging and the industry needs to be ready with alternative methods to reduce packaging footprints. "Till now the packaging industry has only been concerned about production. They need to focus on disposal as well and take ownership of disposal. This he said will lead to two profit centers for the industry i.e. product and disposal," he noted.

Gauranga De, Global Centre-of-Competence, head, product development, Mckinsey and Company stated that the packaging industry is going through a phase of unprecedented growth, the industry is being disrupted by expanding markets and increasing consumer awareness. "Sustainability in the sector is not merely driven by regulations but in the changing nature of consumers, " he added.

According to him there are five major trends in the packaging industry which are raising the bar for performance

E-commerce Industry and food & beverage accounts for 50% of the packaging industry. There is intense focus on increased packaging requirements along with last-mile delivery innovations

Changing consumer preferences - the demand for much more personalization, convenience, health, and affordability

Time to market - packaging trends are changing day by day

Sustainability requirements increasing at every step of the value chain. Rising activist scrutiny is leading to increase in R&D spend riding on the wave of E-Commerce

Digitization/Internet of Things (IoT) generating greater customer value and service through technology integration in packaging.

The two-day Packaging Conference with deliberations on packaging solutions for e-commerce, supply chain efficiencies for consumer and industrial segment, technology and automation trends in packaging, sustainability in packaging industry will serve as platform for sharing knowledge, business and technology identification for the industry.

(Source: ETBrandEquity.com)