Dr D Purandeswari, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India inaugurated the four-day show, which is based on the theme of packaging for economic growth.

Around 125 companies are participating in the show that covers 5,500 sqft area, and with 11 overseas exhibitors from USA, Poland, China, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan.

Professor N C Saha, director, Indian Institute of Packaging introduced the seminar and welcomed the chief guest Purendeshwari and guest of honour Thomas Schneider, president, World Packaging Organisation.

Purandeswari released Indiapack 2013 show guide and Indian Packaging Directory, which has listed 5,000 packaging firms in India. She said, “India is the sixth largest packaging market worldwide with sales of $24.6 bn in 2011. The packaging industry is expected to grow at 12.3% CAGR during next 4-5 years to become fourth largest global market, with sales of $42.7bn.”

According to Purandeswari, the challenges that the industry is facing today are lack of regulatory clarity in packaging, consumer awareness towards sustainable packaging and stress towards green packaging materials.

Highlighting the Indian packaging industry Saha said, “The $24.6bn worth Indian packaging industry has 22,000 firms comprising of raw material manufacturers, machinery suppliers, ancillary material etc of which 85% units are MSMEs. India is at the threshold of explosive growth and we are looking forward to a great exhibition and knowledge sharing.”

Speaking to PrintWeek India, Schneider said, “In coming years Indian packaging industry will see a substantial growth. The increasing awareness regarding clean water, safe food and pharmaceuticals will drive this growth. With increasing retail sector, the concept of track and trace devices especially for product identification such as 2D barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID) etc. will penetrate aggressively into the Indian packaging industry.”

IIP has also organised a two-day international summit on Emerging Trends in New Generation Packaging, which will be hosted on 29 and 30 January at hotel The Leela, Mumbai.