Is Ban on Plastic Stimulating Retail Market's Early Doom? Future Of Retail Packaging In India

Retail Industry is one of the most dynamic industries in India. The increased presence of multinational companies in the Indian retail market has boosted the demand in spaces such as F&B, consumers' products, cosmetics etc. Retail packaging offers various advantages, in terms of labour costs, stock handling, and product visibility, over traditional retail packaging.

It has experienced high growth over the past years, with a gradual shift towards modern retailing formats. Rising income levels are also boosting the growth of organised retail, therefore increasing the demand for innovative and attractive packaging concepts.

Food & Beverages

Food & Beverages are one of the key growing segments in the retail sector. It falls amongst the biggest end users of packaging. Growth in F&B sector will drive the packaging demand as it ensures food safety, quality and long shelf life.

F&B sector has also been exempted from the plastic ban in Maharashtra. "Plastic ban has been lifted for only food packaging as there is not much option available." said, Maharashtra Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam.

Since packaged food is the fastest growing segment, it is expected to fuel the demand for plastic packaging in India. Expenditure on packaged foods is increasing due to increase in per capita income, Urbanization and Increase in working woman population.

Pharmaceuticals

Besides Food & Beverage, pharmaceuticals' are another major user of packaging. India's domestic pharmaceutical market is witnessing high growth. Pharmaceutical Packaging is now becoming the major part of the drug delivery system. Pharmaceutical companies rely more on packaging and labelling as media to protect and promote their products, increase patient compliance, and meet new regulations. Besides this, plastics have been gaining increasing importance in the packaging of pharmaceutical goods due to properties such as barrier against moisture, high dimensional stability, high impact strength, resistance to strain, low water absorption, transparency, resistance to heat and flame etc.

Future of Retail Packaging

Retail packaging segment is expected to capture the packaging demand due to the increase of expertise in the packaging of F&B, medicinal, home & personal care and other heavy industrial products. The overall packaging industry in India has a huge growth potential and is expected to reach USD 73 Billion. Demand for retail packaging is expected to increase 5.2 per cent annually to $6.2 billion in 2020.

India is growing as a manufacturing hub and the exports are also growing. To cater to the international market, the packaging standards are being uplifted which calls for adopting better packaging methods, materials and machineries to make sure that the quality of end product and visual appeal is top notch. Moreover highly favourable demographic patterns in India such as increasing working age population, growing disposable income, growth in middle class, ongoing urbanisation and changing lifestyles etc. will further drive the growth of packaging industry in India.

Trends in Retail Packaging

Some of the emerging trends in retail packaging are as follows:

-Reduction in packaging materials

-Smart Packaging

-Biodegradable Packaging

-Space-saving Packaging

-Better recycling – easier recycling of packaging.

This article was originally published on Franchise India by Sneha Santra.