Packaging is growing in India, says Punit Chandan

Abhay Avadhani (AA): What is the profile of Trimurti Packaging?
Punit Chandan (PC): As a company, we have five manufacturing plants in Vapi, Daman. We have six manufacturing plants in Bengaluru, head offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru, and a small office in Chennai. The company has just come up with a new state-of-the-art facility for IML containers which is equivalent to the top two plants in India. Trimurti also has a division for flexible packaging. We do PE-PE laminates, barrier laminates with nylon and EVOH, which gives an oxygen barrier. For the flexible packaging segment, we make 100% recyclable products, and in IML as well, we make 100% recyclable products.

AA: What market does your company cater to?
PC: We have innovative packaging solutions across IML containers, and new shapes for protein powders, peanut butters, and for the ready to eat industry. We have new edge packaging for the food industry. So, the spread of Trimurti is PAN India, in the Middle East and Africa. It is a 250-crore company spreading across three modes of packaging; paper, flexible and rigid.

AA: What has been happening in terms of R&D?
PC: Our R&D is on two fronts - To develop sustainable products and make them more recyclable. Second is to introduce barriers into the packaging. For example, we come up with oxygen barrier labels for the food industry, and a specialised packaging that will bring down the OTR to less than five okay and MVTR we are providing less than 10. Trimurti also supports modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), and has come up with an innovative screw-cap for IML containers. For flexible packaging, we are coming up with shape pouches for different types of packaging. In paper packaging, we're coming up with different kinds of water-repellent coatings.

AA: What is your customer profile?
PC: Typical customers like Flipkart, Blinkit, Zomato or Swiggy will take a last mile delivery from us. Amazon will take courier bags from us and the ice cream / dairy industry can opt for IML containers and flexible packaging solutions. Some FMCG brands like noodles brands, will go for flexible packaging and IML containers both. So the main target at ProPak was to meet customers who would want a one stop shop for their primary packaging, secondary packaging and last mile delivery.

AA: So how is the market shaping up so far? What do you think is the future of the packaging industry?
PC: Flexible packaging is growing at a pace of 15 to 18% every year. IML packaging is growing more than 40% every year, and paper packaging is also growing at a speed of 20-25% a year. With the increasing demand and packaging, the most responsible thing that you can do is to make it sustainable, and recyclable. For the last five years we have focused on making it recyclable. If we manufacture, then our customers would leverage that to bring this into cyclic with EPR.

AA: How are you achieving this?
PC: For IML containers we have also bought a recycling machine. Through this we ask our customers who are delivering last mile to customers by Swiggy or Zomato, to get the containers back. We collect the containers, post its usage, recycle it, and then manufacture a different product. We use the recyclate to manufacture, for example, hangers, which contain 80% recycled material.

AA: What do you think about automation in the industry? How does automation and sustainability go hand in hand?
PC: In our new factory, we have the complete warehouse automated and we have invested in a 11-metre high shutter-rack system. The industry we are in is fairly automated, and even the machines for flexible packaging use robotics and automation. It is the age of automation.