Companies belonging to an industrial segment are known to flock together, inevitably giving rise to centers that become major hubs for their industrial activities and allied industries. One such centre is Baddi. With incentives like duty exemptions and tax holidays in Himachal Pradesh, Baddi is fast emerging as the major hub for the pharmaceutical industry and the number of units in production likely to touch 200 soon. But Baddi story is not limited to Pharmaceuticals nor is it the only place in the state that is attracting new industries. Between Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh, Pawanoo and Kala- Amb, HP has managed to attract over a thousand units covering all segments of industries.

Uttaranchal has taken a leaf out of the HP story and Haridwar and Dehradoon are emerging as the largest industry destination in this state followed by Pantnagar, Kotdwar and Kashipur. The government is strengthening infrastructure in the areas of power supply and road, rail and air transport, which has encouraged big industrial houses to set up base in the state. All this adds up to a paradigm shift in the industrial scenario in the country.

This trend, in turn, holds many promises for the Packaging industry.

‘Go North and take your bottom line up with you,’ is what the India Package Meet- Chandigarh promised its exhibitors and delegates. The meet was held at the CII Convention Centre in the city of roses on the 30 June, 2006 and featured a day long table top exhibition and a half day conference. It also served as a preview to the International exhibition and conference- India Packaging Show 2006 and ‘PackAge 2006’ Conference that will take place at Pragati Maidan from 1-4 September, later in the year.

The meet was inaugurated by Vijay Kumar Chopra, President, North India Printers Association and Editor- in- Chief of Hind Samachar Ltd. R K Bansal, President, Northern India Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association, Balbir Singh, President of Mohali Industries Association, A R Singh of the Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh Industries Association were the special guests at the inauguration.

Forty of the best companies across various segments exhibited in the tabletop exhibition and eminent speakers from within the industry made presentations in a half day conference. About 120 delegates from the Food, Pharma and Packaging segment interacted with them and debated on ‘Packaging solutions for a globalised world’- The theme of the day .

Avijit Das from GlaxoSmithKline, Consumer Health Care Ltd, spoke on the emerging trends and requirements of food and pharma packaging. “Shelf visibility is very important today and packaging works as an advertisement for the product itself. Also consumer convenience has taken center stage,” said Das while analyzing the trends in the food packaging segment. He also spoke about the requirements of anti- counterfeit packaging in a big way in the pharma industry.

Vikram Singh, Rockwell Automation (P) Ltd, spoke on packaging automation for pharma and food industries. “Growing competition and new opportunities have resulted in companies now shifting base from mechanical systems to electronic systems. This has lead to higher efficiency and productivity, reducing time and errors,” he said.

Presentation by Ankit Vyas from Mamata Machinery (P) Ltd. on innovations in packaging of liquids using flexible packaging invited much debate from the delegates making the session very interactive and lively. “Packaging costs constitute 45% of the final price of the product. As laminated standup pouches cost 70% less than even PET bottles, alternate packaging has become very popular now-a- days,” said Vyas.


T.S. Rangarajan from Tata Consultncy Services spoke on putting RFID to work “It can solve a lot of business challenges- from making real time business possible to making counterfeit packaging a thing of the past. RFID can create enormous opportunities for the printing and packaging industry at both the supply chain and item level tagging stage,” said Rangarajan.

Talking on the emerging role of corrugated packaging in the global scenario, Harish Madan, Past President, Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturing Association of India said “Consistency in quality has gained ground. Educated entrepreneurs are now entering the industry, leading to a quantum leap in quality production and capability. We have now accepted the need for high international quality standards.”

“Since the Union Budget has awarded the food processing industry as being the most favored industry and has reduced the excise duty on packaged food from 16% to 8% a lot is in store for rigid and barrier packaging in the future,” said Amit Shah from Wonderpack Industries, speaking on latest trends in rigid and barrier packaging.

Avinash Bangle from Motor Industries (P) Ltd., spoke on the recent developments in form- fill- seal machines. “The concepts of continuous motion machine and high fill volume packaging are picking up very fast. This gives 30 – 50% higher speed than intermittent motion machine, significant price/ space saving and reduction in operator costs” says Bangle.

The conference was then followed by lunch where speakers, delegates and exhibitors were seen inter mingling and exchanging their views and ideas informally. “The conference was very informative and interactive. The organizers have done a wonderful job. Each topic was very extensively dealt with and explained,” said Jagjit Singh Chinna from Chinna Paper & allied Industries, a delegate at the conference. “I hope to visit the main conference- ‘PackAge 2006’ as well,” he added

The concurrent tabletop exhibition saw 40 major industry players including Amartara Pvt. Ltd., Borkar Packaging, Khosla Machines, Nichrome India Ltd., Pacolabel Systems (P) Ltd., Mamata Machinery (P) Ltd., Motor India Co. Ltd., Rockwell Automation, Inter Labels Industries (P) Ltd., Wonder Pack Industries, Hindustan Tin Works, Ajanta Packaging, Sidel India (P) Ltd and Nagpal Industries displaying their products to the over 200 visitors from areas in and around Chandigarh that visited the exhibition. “This is a real value-for-money exercise as we are able to meet focused and serious customers in a short time,” said Amit Shah of Wonder Pack Industries.

India Package Meet 2006 at Chandigarh was supported by all the major associations in the region including, North India Printers’ Association, Northern India Corrugated Box Manufacturers’ Association, Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association, Mohali Industries Association, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, Industries Association of Chandigarh, Derabassi Industries Association (Regd.), Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh Industries Association and Parwanoo Industries Association.

Date: 05-Jul-2006