Vienna, Austria-headquartered Constantia Flexibles will invest $16 million to expand production capacity at its Indian subsidiary Parikh Packaging, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The company broke ground in mid-2017 on a new greenfield site close to existing production at Parikh. The site is currently under construction and will meet international environmental, hygiene, and work safety standards. It will house a polyethylene blown film extruder, high-definition Flexo printing press, and laminators that will produce high barrier laminates that can be fully recycled.
Stefan Grote, executive vice president of the food division at Constantia Flexibles said, “Major FMCGs are demanding the highest level of sustainability for their packaging material and they will have to comply with upcoming Indian plastic waste management regulations that promote only fully recyclable flexible packaging.”
In March this year, the company acquired a majority share in the Indian film-based laminates producer Creative Polypack Limited. Alexander Baumgartner, CEO, Constantia Flexibles, said, “Through this acquisition, we will become the third largest flexible packaging company in India.”
The packaging industry in India is estimated at $17 billion, and constitutes about 4% of the world’s packaging industry. Over the past five years, this industry has recorded an annual growth of 15%. According to Euromonitor, India will become the third biggest market for packaged food in 2020 after China and the U.S.
