Disha's Weekly Wisdom: Huge opportunity for packaging as FMCG biggies announce investments

While attending Pamex 2024, I realised the technological tweaks and process proficiency the packaging companies are making. But what was an eye opener to hear some of the numbers. These are not just the MNCs but also the regional players in the industry.

Some of the world’s biggest companies have big plans. I mapped five players and the investment plans they have. The tech transformation which PPTs allude to may not take many more years as suggested by market pundits.

I spoke to a market watcher, and based on numbers and funding targets, he told me, we could see a fructification of Rs 15,000-cr investments by December 2024. Some of this will "trickle-down" to packaging. The buzz is, it raises profit outlook and numbers could hit record high, as earnings could "significantly ahead" of expectations.

A quick peek 

Dabur
Dabur will invest Rs 135 crore for a plant in South India. This plant will meet the demand in the southern market which presently contributes 18-20% to Dabur's domestic operations. Dabur's plans are to grow the healthcare business to Rs 5,000 crore a year, home & personal care to Rs 7,000 crore, and double the yearly revenue of our foods & beverages business in five years.

HCCB
HCCB (Coca-Cola’s official canning partner) is planning a green field manufacturing facility in Gujarat. With this new facility, the total investments of Coca-Cola in manufacturing capacities will exceed Rs 2,500 Crores.The plant is expected to fully function by 2026. The company operates a substantial manufacturing facility in Ameenpur through its fully-owned bottling arm, Readers of WhatPakaging? magazine will remember that in 2020, HCCB had invested Rs 142 crore for its Ameenpur plant- and in 2022 a new greenfield facility at Banda Thimmapur with a Rs 1,000 crore investment.  Presently, India is Coca-Cola’s third-largest global market.

Mondelez
Mondelez India has invested Rs 4,000 crore in building new plants. The investments will go into expanding capacity at existing factories, warehousing and logistics, and augmenting its route-to-market, including cold chains to cater to rural markets via refrigerators and chillers.  This investment is being made to support the surge in the consumption and hence the volume sales of Mondelez products. India remains a priority market for the maker of Oreo and Cadbury.

Nestle
Nestle will invest around Rs 6,500 crore in 2024. This investment will catalyse manufacturing operations in India's FMCG sector. As per market watcher on X (erstwhile Twitter),  "The investment aims to boost production capabilities and cater to the growing demand for Nestle products. This move reflects Nestle's commitment to strengthening its position in the Indian consumer goods market."

Procter & Gamble
One of the first few companies to 100% recycle plastic in India, P&G has announced an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in a plant to hike the production capacity in the upcoming years.  Presently, P&G India has eight plants across India. Of the eight factories, P&G operates a manufacturing plant in Sanand since 2015.