Packaging industry is growing at 15%, to reach $35 bn by 2020

The Dollar Business Bureau

The packaging industry in India is growing at an annual rate of 15%. Currently pegged at $25 billion, the industry is set to reach $30-35 billion mark by 2020, said a top government official.

“Keeping in view the growth of this major industry and the country’s potential to augment exports, the central government is creating an experts committee to analyse packaging standards needed to be followed in the highly competitive world market,” stated Inder Jit Singh, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while addressing the Asian Packaging Congress 2016 in Mumbai on Saturday.

The committee would consist of members from the sector and exporters who would come together and evaluate the quality of packaging. This would help the country in maintaining global standards in packaging the products and also augment the exports, he said.

“The packaging standards must match with the rest of the world or the western world so that we are able to compete with them or rather exceed their standards and for this purpose a committee is being formed by the India government,” Singh said.

Packaging helps in increasing the value and shelf life of a product. Thus, it is very vital to adopt high standards in packaging in domestic as well as export markets, he said.

Singh said that 55% of the India’s export market was controlled where nothing can be done in packaging as importers put down their specific standards which are required to be adopted at the time of packing products.

However, for the remaining 45% unregulated export area, India needs to have its own standards for packaging  which would stand out in the competitive world market, Singh said.

Currently, India imports some packaging material but time has come when this packaging material should be made in the country and try to create a mark in the world market, he added.