Driven by rising demand for premium woven packaging solutions, Knack Packaging is entering its next phase of growth with a capacity expansion backed by its upcoming IPO. In this interaction with The Packman, Alpesh Patel, marketing director at Knack Packaging, discusses the company’s expansion strategy, investments in advanced manufacturing, automation, and sustainability, and the evolving demand for high-value BOPP-laminated woven bags.

Mahan Hazarika: What prompted Knack Packaging to launch its IPO at this stage?

Alpesh Patel: We are operating our facilities at 81.63% capacity utilization in FY26 — that leaves limited headroom to scale. With demand for PLWPP bags growing steadily, the natural next step is to add capacity through a greenfield facility, and this offer is primarily to fund that. It’s a growth-driven listing: we’re raising capital to build ahead of demand and to deepen our position in specialized, high-value formats rather than to catch up.

Mahan Hazarika: How will the IPO proceeds be utilized?

Alpesh Patel: The fresh issue is up to INR 3,800 million. Of that, INR 3,200 million is earmarked for our new manufacturing facility at Borisana, in Kadi, Mehsana, Gujarat, with the balance for general corporate purposes. Worth noting: we’ve already invested ₹911.60 million into this project from internal accruals ahead of the IPO, so the proceeds accelerate a plan we’re already executing, not one that’s waiting to start.

Mahan Hazarika: What additional manufacturing capacity will the expansion create?

Alpesh Patel: Our current effective installed capacity is approximately 43,300 MTPA. The new facility is designed to progressively lift that toward roughly 55,800 MTPA – on the order of 12,500 MTPA of additional capacity. Critically, it’s not just more of the same: the expansion is focused on higher-value formats – pinch-bottom bags, block-bottom, laminated woven sacks and gusseted formats – with built-in flexibility to handle both high-volume orders and small customized runs.

Mahan Hazarika: Which end-use sectors are driving demand for woven packaging today?

Alpesh Patel: It’s broad-based, which is part of the resilience. Food grains – rice, flour, sugar, salt – plus animal and pet food, agriculture and seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, cement, tile adhesives and building materials, and increasingly e-commerce. Because our packaging touches essential goods across so many sectors, we’re not over-exposed to any single demand cycle.

Mahan Hazarika: What are the company’s key growth priorities over the next three to five years?

Alpesh Patel: Our growth strategy is built around five key priorities – expand capacity and strengthen manufacturing through the Borisana greenfield; grow into new product categories and high-growth end-user industries; capitalize on rising PLWPP demand; deepen our export footprint; and advance automation, AI and machine-learning capability – all while transitioning further toward sustainable operations. In short, more capacity, more specialization, more markets.

Mahan Hazarika: How are you strengthening your portfolio of BOPP laminated woven bags?

Alpesh Patel: BOPP-laminated woven bags are our core – printed and laminated woven PP bags are about 73% of our product revenue, with the BOPP lamination giving the high-definition printability, gloss, moisture barrier and durability that brand owners want. We are strengthening the portfolio upward into premium formats: pinch-bottom bags are already over 20% of product revenue, and we’re the first in India and Asia to integrate a laser-cut, easy-open feature into them. With 73,000-plus printing cylinders, we function as custodians of our customers’ branding, which is hard to replicate.

Mahan Hazarika: What role does automation play in your manufacturing operations?

Alpesh Patel: A central one. We run advanced automation to improve product quality and consistency, including automatic bag-conversion lines, and our proprietary digital ecosystem, Knack Galaxy, gives real-time visibility across procurement, production, dispatch and logistics, integrated with SAP S/4HANA and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Advancing automation and AI/ML capability further is an explicit part of our strategy.

Mahan Hazarika: How is the company improving productivity and operational efficiency?

Alpesh Patel: Three levers. Vertical integration – we control the process from extrusion through to finishing in-house, which protects quality and margin. Digitization – Knack Galaxy reduces errors and improves throughput and traceability. And the new facility is designed to remove capacity bottlenecks and let us serve both large and customized orders efficiently. You can see it in the numbers: EBITDA margin has moved from 15.38% in FY24 to 20.42% in FY26.

Mahan Hazarika: What sustainability initiatives are currently underway at Knack Packaging?

Alpesh Patel: Roughly 80% of our energy already comes from renewable sources, and we have set a target of 90% by 2030 – backed by an 11 MW solar farm and a windmill. We hold EN 15343 certification for recycled-content traceability, we recycle our process wastewater, and we reprocess production scrap into value-added products. For us sustainability is operational, not cosmetic.

Mahan Hazarika: How do you address raw material price volatility?

Alpesh Patel: Our key inputs – PP granules, BOPP films and inks – track crude oil and commodity cycles, so volatility is real. We generally pass on cost movements to customers through periodic price revisions, and our vertical integration and inventory planning help us manage sourcing. There can be a timing lag between input cost changes and price revisions, so we manage it actively rather than claim to have eliminated it.

Mahan Hazarika: How are customer expectations for woven packaging evolving?

Alpesh Patel: Customers increasingly want three things at once: stronger, better-performing packaging; premium, high-definition branding; and sustainability. That’s exactly the shift from basic coated woven bags toward PLWPP and specialized formats like pinch-bottom with easy-open convenience. Add rising expectations around traceability, food safety and reliable delivery, and it plays directly to our design depth and integrated model.

Mahan Hazarika: What are your expectations from the Indian packaging market over the next five years?

Alpesh Patel: Per the Technopak report, the Indian packaging market was valued at about INR 7,275 billion in FY2025 and is projected to reach roughly INR 9,195 billion by FY2029, a CAGR of about 6.0%; globally, the PLWPP bags segment is projected to grow at around 5.0% CAGR through CY2029. Within that, PLWPP is emerging as a superior alternative to conventional coated woven bags – so we expect the specialized, laminated end of the market to grow faster than the average.

Mahan Hazarika: What is your vision for Knack Packaging after the IPO?

Alpesh Patel: We continue to be one of the leading, integrated, innovation-oriented, and export-led value-added packaging solutions providers. Post-IPO, that means bringing new capacity online, moving further up the value chain into premium formats, extending our presence across the 71 countries we already serve, and doing it sustainably. The through-line, as our brand says, is imagining beyond what a woven bag is expected to be.