India’s packaging industry is entering a phase in which growth will be measured not only by volumes, but by quality, safety, sustainability and technological capability. Addressing the inaugural session of the conference at Packplus 2026, Dr. Tanweer Alam, additional director and regional officer, Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), positioned packaging as a strategic contributor to India’s economic ambitions and called for closer collaboration among government, industry and academia.

Alam cited recent industry data indicating that India’s packaging sector has crossed the USD 100 billion mark and is growing at more than 10%, compared with global packaging-sector growth of around 3.9–4%.

“Packaging is the engine of growth of the Indian economy nowadays,” Alam said, arguing that the sector has moved far beyond its traditional role of simply wrapping or protecting products.

The next phase of growth will demand a shift in priorities. Alam highlighted four broad areas requiring sustained attention, beginning with quality. The emphasis, he said, needs to move from mass production towards producing packaging that meets higher performance and quality expectations. This transition will increasingly influence investment decisions, product development priorities and the technologies adopted across the packaging value chain. It raises the bar for suppliers across India’s packaging market.

Food and pharmaceutical packaging represent another critical area. With packaging forming an integral part of product protection, safety and regulatory compliance are becoming increasingly important. Alam pointed to the growing role of regulations from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and stressed that packaging materials must meet international compliance expectations. “Safety is non-negotiable,” he said, particularly for food and pharmaceutical applications.

Innovation and sustainability form another major pillar. Alam stressed that packaging decisions should be based on scientific merit rather than an assumption that one material is inherently superior to another. Plastic, paper, glass, metal and composite materials each have advantages and limitations, and the appropriate material should be selected according to functionality and end-use requirements.

At the same time, the industry must address what happens after consumption. Materials need to perform their intended packaging function while also becoming more compatible with environmental requirements at end of life. This, Alam argued, is a challenge requiring sustained scientific research.

Alam referred to the government’s decision not to pursue alternative packaging for pan masala and gutkha as a challenge that could also become an opportunity for researchers and material developers. India’s natural fiber and bio-resources, he suggested, could provide a foundation for developing viable alternatives.

But research must translate into industrial applications. “We should not have research for publication purposes” or patents that merely showcase an achievement, Alam said. Research outcomes should deliver practical solutions that industry can scale and commercialize.

That makes industry-academia collaboration increasingly important. Alam called for multidisciplinary and multi-institutional work, with industry involved in scaling up technologies and taking knowledge to users. Technologies developed for the future must be accessible to smaller businesses as well as large enterprises.

Paper-based packaging also needs continued technological attention. While paper offers advantages as an alternative packaging material, its sensitivity to moisture can restrict applications. Improving barrier properties and developing specialized packaging solutions will be essential, Alam said.

Technology adoption represents another opportunity. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT can help packaging companies improve quality, raise efficiency, reduce defects and move towards zero-defect manufacturing.

He also called for stronger testing and certification infrastructure, greater industry-academia cooperation and measurable approaches to sustainability. Circularity should be considered at the design stage, with efforts to reduce material mass, volume and carbon footprint.

For the packaging industry, the direction is increasingly clear: growth will have to be supported by science, compliance, scalable innovation and responsible material choices. Exhibitions and industry platforms can play a role by bringing manufacturers, machinery suppliers, material companies, academics and technology developers together. As Alam concluded, such platforms can help make innovation visible and accelerate India’s emergence as a packaging powerhouse.