Chiripal Poly Films recently commissioned a new BOPET line at its Hyderabad plant. The 8.7-meter line will double Chiripal’s BOPET film capacity and boost its reach to domestic and international markets with specialty products including matte BOPET and twist-grade films, and in-line coated products. Sumant Singhal, CEO of Chiripal Poly Films said that the new line is in line with the company’s decision to double its capacity – both BOPP and BOPET – by 2024. This is Chiripal’s second BOPET line – the first one already running at the company’s Ahmedabad plant.
A decade ago, Chiripal Poly Films started as a single-location, single-product company with a small but committed team. In just a decade, it has grown into a significant player in film manufacturing both in India and globally. Today it produces multiple products with a global footprint in more than 50 countries clocking a turnover exceeding Rs 3,500 crore.
Earlier this year, the company celebrated its 10th anniversary. In the last 10 years, the company has overcome many challenges and achieved several successes and milestones. In 2021, the company inaugurated its latest state-of-the-art film manufacturing plant in Hyderabad which currently employs around 600 employees. The company’s Ahmedabad plant employs around 1,000 employees.
Rs 1,000 crore investment
In line with the 2024 goals, the company has further investments planned. The company is investing around Rs 1,000 crore in the Hyderabad plant of which 80-85% has already been utilized where it commissioned a BOPP line last year and the BOPET line in September 2022. The company will utilize the remaining amount to commission a CPP line at the plant in early 2023.
The strategic location of the new plant spread over an area of 35 acres, will help Chiripal to cater to the extreme Southern as well as Eastern markets. “It will be a new geographical market added to our portfolio. Hyderabad and its surrounding areas have huge consumers of BOPP, BOPET and CPP films. The demand for packaging films has been growing at a fast pace in Southern India over the last few years and there were no packaging film plants situated in this part of the country to cater to this demand. Even in Hyderabad, there were no BOPP/BOPET lines until we started it last year – we are the first to start BOPP/BOPET lines in Hyderabad. The decision to start a new plant in Hyderabad was an outcome of our desire to be closer to these markets and provide world-class products to our customers. Another reason was to become multi-location to mitigate business continuity risks of operating from a single site,” said Singhal.
Significant increase in volume and Bobst metallizer
The new line will increase the company’s overall BOPET capacity to around 75,000 MT per year. Currently, the company has an annual capacity to manufacture 133,000 MT BOPP, 40,000 MT BOPET, and 220,000 MT PET resin in addition to value-added capabilities of metalizing and coating.
In addition to the BOPP line that was commissioned last year, and the BOPET line this year, Chiripal has also commissioned three Bobst metallizers and a host of other machinery at the Hyderabad plant. Another Bobst metallizer is planned for the Hyderabad plant which will be commissioned along with the CPP line. This will increase the number of Bobst metallizers at the plant to four. Singhal added that Chiripal is currently the second-largest producer of metalized films in the country. The Hyderabad plant currently produces 36,000 tonnes metalized films a year while the Ahmedabad plant also produces a similar volume taking the overall production of the company to around 68,000 tonnes a year.
More investments under the sleeve
According to Singhal, Chiripal has mapped out a well-planned expansion strategy for the coming years. “In addition to the capacity expansion of film lines, we also plan to ramp up the capacity of our bottle-grade PET resin and chip production as well as our coating line. We are also diversifying with a greenfield aluminum foil plant. The investment phase for these all will be over in 3-4 years from now. The investment will help us not only in increasing our capacity but also in introducing new products and substrates in addition to adding new markets. We will be able to add more value to our customers by supplying almost all kinds of flexible packaging substrates required by them. Once the investment phase is over, we will clock a turnover of Rs 6,000-6,500 crore by 2027,” said Singhal.
Increased film line installations in India
As new and more sustainable structures are being developed in India, several Brückner and Dornier film lines are on order. While several have been recently installed, some are under installation or about to be installed. Speaking about the increased film line installations in the country, Singhal said, “As far as film capacity installation is concerned, companies are investing heavily and in coming days, more investments will come up. However, there is no denying that this may eventually lead to over-capacity. Hence, along with capacity expansion, it is also important that the packaging film industry focuses on exports as well. Export markets provide ample opportunities for specialty products and high-quality films. So, the industry as a whole should ensure that it is capable of exporting a good volume to international markets so that the balance remains maintained.”
Chiripal exports around 3,000 tonnes of films a month which is roughly 30% of the total film volume that it produces every month. Going ahead, the company aims to add another 2,500 tonnes per month to its export volume.
Sustainability initiatives
Sustainable practices at its manufacturing plants are a critical element of Chiripal’s sustainability commitments. The company ensures that it maintains momentum in reaching ESG ambitions across all its plants. At present, the company has five recycling plants from Erema – two in Hyderabad and three in Ahmedabad – these are used to recycle all film wastes generated in the plants. In addition, the company is setting up a facility at its Ahmedabad plant to demetallize scraped metalized films allowing its reuse or producing plastic granules. After Ahmedabad, a similar facility will be set up at the Hyderabad plant as well.