Packaging is the fifth largest sector in Indian economy and is one of the highest growth sectors in the country. According to the Packaging Industry Association of India (PIAI), the sector is growing at 22-25% per annum.
A study by trade and commerce trade association Assocham and global consulting firm EY revealed that the packaging industry in India is anticipated to reach US$ 73.6 billion by 2020, due to India’s growing population and income levels.
In recent years, India has seen sustainable packaging growth due to the increase of packaged food consumption and awareness, and demand for quality products. Consumer awareness surrounding packaged food, specifically packaged food deliveries, has heightened. Earlier this year, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) announced new packaging regulations to replace the former 2011 provisions. The new regulations comprise of a migration limit of 60 mg/kg or 10 mg/dm2 and migration limits for specific contaminates in plastic packaging materials. Recycled plastics and newspaper used for food packaging have also been banned. New labeling regulations were also revised.
Recent years have seen a boom in the e-commerce and the organized retail sectors in India, with the manifold increase of packaged food consumption, awareness and a demand for quality products. This, in turn, has seen a tremendous growth in packaging innovations across the country. Brands are catching up to the trend by using innovative packaging solutions to enhance consumers’ experience and increase the shelf appeal of their products.
Latest technologies in the packaging space like nanotechnology is gaining popularity in several areas of food sciences such as food safety, packaging, processing, bio-availability, fortification, encapsulation among others. With packaging, sustainability is another driver which plays a huge role in influencing companies and consumers to find innovative technologies for greener, more environmental friendly solutions. The global consensus to reduce negative environmental effects of packaging in conjunction with technological innovations have driven brands to reduce material usage, use recyclable material in packaging and develop the use of other sustainable materials.
Let’s examine some key trends in the Indian food & snack packaging market:
Shift to flexible packaging
The packaging industry seems to be moving towards flexible packaging owing to its multi-fold energy and environment benefits. Flexible packaging uses the best characteristics of plastic, paper and aluminum foil, without compromising on the products freshness, barrier protection, durability, printability and ease of use.
With its versatile nature, light weight, reduced cost and improved shelf life due to barrier properties, flexible packaging films have become the preferred choice over traditional packaging materials.
Enhanced functional properties of flexible packaging
Packaging deals with functional properties and aesthetic properties. With the continuous increase in the availability of packaged food products in the market, it is extremely important for brands to use innovative packaging techniques which allows the inside product to remain fresh till the time it reaches the end consumer.
Packaging materials which have excellent barrier properties (Both Water vapor and oxygen) for example, have become an essential in product packaging, with examples like High Moisture Barrier Films (HMB), which are metalized and corona-treated on both sides for duplexes as well as a sandwich layer for lamination in snack foods, because loss of moisture is the most important area of concern in this case. Other options are Aroma and Oxygen Barrier Films – that have strong moisture and gas barrier properties and are used for packaging of cream biscuits, chocolates, chips and snacks. Needless to say that end customers today do not accept any of these products if its original taste and crunchy quality is lost.
Enhanced shelf appeal –improvement of aesthetic values
When looking through retail shelves, consumers often run into a wide variety of similar products, which makes it really important for brands to make their products stand out from their competitors. Shelf appeal of the product is as important as its quality, and has become a key component for successful marketing. Flexible packaging for example, provides better aesthetics and also offers a better visibility of the product, allowing brand owners and product designers to think out-of-the-box.
It may be mention here that revolutionary improvement of flexo and gravure printing with CtP flexo plates, laser engraving gravure printing cylinder and improvement of flexo, gravure ink technology can enable the brand owner to provide a very attractive printing quality. A summary can be provided as follows – packaging textures like matte, velvet, scuff-free and linen give a premium texture and look to the products’ packaging, thus creating a feeling of luxury in the minds of the customer.
Sustainability
In the last few years, sustainable products have become a priority for consumers and for brands. The staggering growth in consumer awareness about sustainability, and frequent dialogues on social responsibility has pushed brand owners to do away with traditional, non-environmental friendly packaging methods, focusing more on homogeneous (same family of polymers) film structures.
BOPP, CPP and PE come from the same poly-olefin family of polymers which can be used individually or in combination to form mono-material (homogeneous) laminate structures without compromising on the aesthetics and performance of the pack. BOPP and CPP films also offer benefit of better yield and in turn less consumption of plastics and overall lesser laminate cost.
Intelligent packaging
Consumer expectations are becoming increasingly high, and industries across the spectrum are upgrading their products and systems to become smarter, and provide exceptional customer experience. Intelligent packaging uses its unique features such as sensing, detecting, tracing, and recording and communicating to facilitate extension of shelf life, enhance quality and safety, provide information, and warn about potential problems. The technology of intelligent packaging can be applied to identify counterfeit products, boost consumer engagement with the help of smartphones, and avoid wastage through clear indication of freshness levels or expiry of the product.
Use of nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is gaining a lot of popularity in several areas of food sciences such as food safety, packaging, processing, bio-availability, fortification, encapsulation, and pathogen detection among others. In the food packaging industry, research shows that nanotechnology-based food packaging offers numerous advantages over conventional food packaging materials. The nano materials used in the packaging are ‘smart materials’; they respond to the external environment, repair themselves or alert the consumers about contamination.
Apart from the obvious advantage of smart packaging, the application of nanotechnology also comes with other advantages such as improvement in temperature resistance, enhanced durability, flame resistance, barrier, recycling and optical properties.
Indian companies are dependent on foreign machinery and investing a huge amount for raw materials. Initiatives by the Indian Government like ‘Make in India’ are opportunities for foreign players to export, import and provide the latest technology and innovation. Moreover, by setting up packaging institutes and collaborating with foreign universities, the government is continuously improving the process of training potential workforce and tries to meet the need of skilled workforce throughout.
Even though the market opportunities have been substantially increased in the last years, there are still some barriers as the industry is largely unorganized. The requirement of investments, lack of bank credit facilities and a long gestation period have been impeding the adoption of newer technologies. Either way, the flexible packaging has helped enhancing to carry the ability of products and increases their shelf life. In the future, it will further strengthen the entire packaging industry and will attract more foreign companies to invest.