In this interaction with The Packman, Ranganath BV, managing director for India and Bangladesh at Stahl, shares insights on the role of advanced coatings in India’s packaging sector. He highlights the company’s focus on sustainable, high-performance solutions across paper, board and flexible packaging. He also points to India’s emergence as a strategic hub, driven by growing manufacturing strength, technical expertise and an increasing emphasis on sustainability.
Mahan Hazarika: Stahl has been strengthening its presence in India. How do you view India’s role as a strategic hub for advanced coatings, particularly for the packaging sector?
Ranganath BV: India plays a very important role in how we see the future of advanced coatings, particularly in packaging. Within packaging coatings, Stahl is already well known for innovative, sustainable, and high-performance solutions across paper and board, flexible packaging and a wide range of printing applications. What really drives us is protecting what matters to consumers – combining durability, functional performance and strong visual appeal, while supporting recyclability and material efficiency.
From an Indian perspective, we see a market that is rapidly maturing into a genuine strategic hub for advanced coatings. The strength of the local manufacturing base, combined with steadily improving technical expertise and a growing focus on sustainability and regulatory compliance, is accelerating that shift. For us, this creates the right environment to not only serve growing demand, but also to develop and apply advanced coating technologies closer to where customers operate.
Mahan Hazarika: Could you elaborate on the key capabilities of the Ranipet plant and how it supports sustainable coatings for flexible packaging applications?
Ranganath BV: The strength of this plant lies in the way manufacturing, technical service, and application expertise are integrated. Having these capabilities under one roof allows us to work very closely with customers on the issues that matter most in practice – how coatings perform on their lines, how they behave at scale, and how they meet evolving regulatory and sustainability requirements. With packaged goods growing so quickly and sustainability expectations rising, that kind of hands-on collaboration really matters.
Stahl has a long track record in packaging coatings, particularly with water-based and energy-cured technologies. These are designed to deliver durability, shelf appeal and recyclability without compromising on functionality. At this site, we focus on formulating coatings that are efficient, safe, and compliant, including lower-impact solutions that support and meet evolving sustainability and regulatory requirements.
Having these capabilities locally in India makes a real difference. It allows us to respond faster, collaborate more closely, and stay closely aligned with regional market needs, while still operating fully in line with Stahl’s global quality, safety, and sustainability standards.
Mahan Hazarika: How is Stahl aligning its coatings portfolio with evolving regulatory and brand-owner expectations around recyclability and reduced environmental impact?
Ranganath BV: Sustainability now sits at the heart of how we innovate in packaging. At Stahl, our approach is to align coating performance with the realities of recyclability, regulatory compliance, and material efficiency, while still meeting the functional demands of packaged goods.
Our strength lies in water-based and energy-cured technologies, which allow brand owners to reduce environmental impact without giving up on performance or reliability. We work closely with customers to ensure our coatings still deliver the durability, moisture resistance and scuff protection they need.
Importantly, sustainability does not eliminate the need for differentiation on shelf. Through controlled surface effects – such as gloss, matte, and tactile finishes – we support brand owners in creating packaging that remains visually and sensorially appealing, even as materials and structures evolve. This balanced approach reflects our broader commitment to raising the standard for what sustainable packaging coatings must deliver in practice.
Mahan Hazarika: What recent advancements or product developments from Stahl are particularly relevant to the flexible packaging industry?
Ranganath BV: Many of our recent developments for packaging coatings are being shaped by two converging forces: stricter sustainability expectations and rapidly evolving regulations. We’re focusing on coatings that work well with newer, more material-efficient and recyclable packaging structures, while still delivering consistent in performance.
One of our global product developments we are excited about, which we believe will be relevant for India, is making fiber-based food packaging 100% recyclable and repulpable. Traditional fiber-based food packaging is difficult to recycle because of the coatings typically used on it. For example, most paper-based cups are coated with a transparent layer of PE, which means it can’t be recycled together with normal paper and cardboard.
That’s something we’ve been working to change for quite some time. After years of research, we’ve developed a solution that allows us to apply sustainable barrier coatings directly onto paper. These coatings deliver the protection food packaging needs (against oxygen, water, oil and grease) but crucially, they don’t interfere with the recycling process.
Mahan Hazarika: With increasing focus on circular economy principles, how do you see the role of specialty coatings evolving in enabling recyclable or mono-material packaging structures?
Ranganath BV: Coatings are no longer an independent layer added at the end of development; they are increasingly system enablers that determine whether a packaging structure can be recycled or simplified into mono material formats. As circular economy principles gain traction, specialty coatings are increasingly expected to support recyclable and mono-material packaging structures while maintaining essential performance. This shifts their role toward system compatibility and material efficiency.
Coatings are no longer just about performance, but about how they work within the overall packaging structure. In recyclable or mono material designs, coatings must deliver essential properties such as barrier performance and surface functionality, while remaining compatible with recycling systems. The key challenge is finding the right balance between functionality, material efficiency and system compatibility.
Mahan Hazarika: What are the key challenges you foresee in scaling sustainable coating solutions in India, and how is Stahl addressing them?
Ranganath BV: One of the main challenges in scaling sustainable coatings in India is the wide variation in market maturity. Sustainability expectations, infrastructure and regulatory interpretation can differ significantly across customers and segments, which means coatings need to be both technically robust and flexible enough to perform consistently across a range of materials.
Another challenge is ensuring that sustainability transitions remain economically viable. For many converters, changes in materials or processes must not disrupt productivity, cost structures, or supply reliability. Sustainable solutions only scale when they are practical to implement at industrial speed and volume.
At Stahl, we address these challenges by focusing on coating technologies that combine performance, regulatory compliance, and material efficiency.
Ultimately, we aim to make sustainability operational and repeatable, rather than aspirational. By aligning coating performance with process efficiency and end-of-life considerations, we help customers reduce the lifecycle impact of packaging in a way that can be adopted broadly across the Indian market.
Mahan Hazarika: Looking ahead, what are Stahl’s key priorities and growth plans for India and Bangladesh over the next five years, especially in relation to packaging and flexible materials?
Ranganath BV: Our focus over the next five years is on strengthening the capabilities that matter most to customers. That includes continued investment in local technical service, application expertise, and collaborative development, so that we can support customers as material choices and packaging structures evolve. At the same time, it is important for us to remain closely connected to Stahl’s global technology platforms, quality systems, and sustainability frameworks.
Overall, our approach in India and Bangladesh is not about short-term expansion, but about building a resilient business with deep local relevance, capable of supporting customers as markets, regulations, and sustainability expectations continue to evolve.
