IIP’s conference demystifies packaging design, regulations, logistics and retail

The two-day packaging conference organised by Indian Institute of Packaging saw an enthusiastic start with an attendance of over 200 delegates at Hotel Shangri-La’s Eros, New Delhi on 17 January 2014.

In the keynote session, Asim Parekh of Coca Cola India discussed the challenges in packaging development with regards to changing retail environment. He shared few instances, in the modern retail environment, where convenience and customisation plays a significant role such as the initiative of personalised Coca Cola bottles and wallet Maaza bottle, which is ready to be launched all over India. Parekh said, “Thanks to the packaging fraternity, Coca Cola has been a successful unchanged product for last 26 years.”

The gist of Parekh’s presentation was that retail drives the behaviour of brand owners and influences packaging.

The second presentation highlighted the significance of packaging design. Tridha Gajjar, professor, NID Ahmedabad shared her views on design aspects of packaging: shapes, colour, surface graphics, printing technologies etc.

Gajjar demonstrated how selecting appropriate geometrical shapes can help in eliminating the dead space in packaging being transported and thereby reduce costs. Cylinderical ice-cream packs with perforations for easy opening and dispensing, portable-flexible-flatable pouches, packaging for Khakra among others were some of the packaging case-studies shared by Gajjar.

Radha Mohan Gupta, regional procurement director, Rickett Benckiser spoke on efficient distribution and logistics systems. In his presentation, Gupta explained the evolution of retail environment in India. “The initialisation of retail in India began in 1990s with factory retail outlets, the conceptualisation happened in a period from 1995 to 2005 and in next five years the retail industry in India saw expansion. Since 2010, it is in consolidation mode and this is fuelled by penetration in rural areas and FDI in multi-brand retail.”

According to Gupta, India is the fifth most attractive investment destination for organised retail in the world. Gupta spoke about the impact of retail on distribution and logistics. He stressed on the need of the supply chains to transform to demand chains, which are consumer focused.

The final presentation of the key-note session was hosted by Vinod Kotwal, director, FSSAI, government of India. Kotwal’s presentation focused on statutary regulation for consumer packaging. She spoke about Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (FSS). “FSS (packaging and labelling) regulation, 2011 lays down the packaging and labelling requirements for food products. The mandatory declarations made on label of food product as required must be in English or in Hindi. The label should not contain any information that is false, misleading and deceptive.”

All food products and ingredients and all food business are regulated by the new FSS Act 2006, which represents a new scientific based regulatory regime in India replacing the older Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.