Packaging Industry is set to move up to the 20-25% Growth Band..

The Indian economy is set to grow at a fast pace in the coming year and as per estimates may well see a double-digit growth by 2005.

As the economy rides an increased industrial production and a growing international trade, the package converters find the customers are increasingly demanding better and innovative products. Retailing shifts from the corner shops to the malls also means that the packaging is assigned more responsibilities. The present per capita consumption of packaging in the country is dramatically lower than the global averages. All the pointers indicate that the packaging industry is set to move to a higher level of growth between 20-25% from the present level of around 12-15%.

The larger Indian converters have been adopting the latest technologies and several high-end machines have been installed in the country in the past few years. These machines are largely imported from the western countries, with Germany and Italy accounting for almost 45% of the total packaging machinery imports. However, as the need to upgrade is felt by the smaller converters and corrugators and many commercial printers diversify into package printing, there is an increasing focus on machines made in T aiwan, Korea and also China. Meantime, the Indian machinery manufacturers have also geared up and are today making machines that are lapped up by the growing industry in India. Some of these machinery manufacturers are also making inroads in the export markets and are moving beyond the traditional Asian neighbours and the countries in the Gulf to South Africa, East Europe and even South America.

For years, the Indian corrugated box industry has been characterised by low technology and has been reserved for the small scale sector. With the booming white goods industry, the use of the corrugated box as a primary package is increasing. At the same time, the market dynamics is witnessing the increased customer demand for an improved secondary package. The Indian corrugator is responding to the emerging demands and to the need to upgrade and innovate.

World over, Flexography has become the pre-dominant medium for package printing. The use of flexo has also been growing in India. Several sophisticated CI flexo presses have been installed in the past six months. The booming label industry is riding a narrow web flexo invasion as folding carton manufacturers also take a look at this technology. The Indian corrugators have been increasingly adopting flexo printing with water-based inks. The coming years should see a larger share of printing going to flexo in the converting and corrugating industries.