Ramu Ramanathan

Mahajan says, "Innovation, in my view, is a culture, not a department."

Reimagining Romeo and Juliet

Hemant Kanoria shares his profound understanding of the technical aspects of aerosols, having served on the ISI (BIS) committee that established standards for aluminum monobloc aerosols in India. His leadership has ensured Bharat Containers remains the largest, most respected, and successful can manufacturer in the country, even amidst competition from international players

While paper and plastic currently dominate the packaging landscape, constituting around 80% of the total share, metal packaging at 8% is gaining significant importance due to several trends.

Frederick Smith, who founded FedEx, revolutionised the delivery business through a mix of aircraft and smart packaging for overnight delivery.

Rrajesh Khosla, CEO of AGI, discusses the booming cosmetics market in India, the growing role of male grooming, the importance of glass in packaging, AGI's commitment to sustainability, technology upgrades, and investments in both domestic and export markets.

This week's highlights reflect on the FMCG performance of companies in the wake of quarterly results being out, and the impact of the weather and the festive season.

S Sreenatha of Easy Openends speaks to Ramu Ramanathan about the history of cans and the company's evolution, its innovations, and the challenges it encounters in a market like India.

The Indian packaging coating market is expected to grow to USD 3.98 billion by 2030. This means growing at a CAGR of 6.2% ( data source Skyquest market research). Farid Sorathiya, technical director - technical & commercial graphic division at Astra Chemtech. The polymer scientist, helps sort fact from fiction in a conversation with Ramu Ramanathan

DIC-Sun Chemical is at the forefront of innovative coatings solutions across the globe. The global behemoth is supplying coatings for trials and validation. Utsab Choudhuri, chief technology officer and Dr Kamakshi Christopher GM, flexible technology share the highlights with Ramu Ramanathan

“In terms of performance, the sealing abilities of PE is unmatchable. But water-based coatings provide customisation benefits, including enhanced functionality, and are also environmentally friendly,” Shailesh Nema, vice-president - sales Asia and managing director India, Michelman, tells Ramu Ramanathan of WhatPackaging? magazine

Ashwini Sonar, the strategic marketing specialist at HB Fuller in a conversation with Abhay Avadhani of WhatPackaging?, shares how the company’s Earthic water-based barrier coating is helping the brands to transition to fibre-based solutions

Dr Sameer Joshi confronts the plastic waste problem with ten simple steps. Joshi says, "We need to focus on the prevention of litter, as well as a rethink on design plus removing plastics from the waste stream input"

Sanjiv Puri, the chairman of ITC has been elected the president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2024-25. He succeeds TVS Supply Chain Solutions chairman R Dinesh. Meanwhile, Rajiv Memani becomes president-designate, and R Mukundan assumes vice presidency.

Diwakar Shetty, chairman, Fibre Foils in a conversation with Ramu Ramanathan of WhatPackaging? talks about Fibre Foils, its journey, the product portfolio and technology

Printmann who bagged the Packaging Company of the Year - Folding Cartons (Boutique) during the PrintWeek Awards 2023, announced the induction of Somerset Indus Capital Partners as a minority investor in the business as well as a new subsidiary Pakcellence. The announcement was made in the presence of Printmann's employees, customers and packaging partners during an event in Navi Mumbai on 13 February. The aim: To be the world's most preferred packaging partner

India "imports" adhesives at half the price of the top brands. Many local manufacturers repack them and sell these. And yet, the top adhesive brands in India have managed to stay ahead of this sort of shenanigans. Ramu Ramanathan tries to make sense of the "lut" that passes off as business in India

Printmann who bagged the Packaging Company of the Year - Folding Cartons (Boutique) during the PrintWeek Awards 2023, announced the induction of Somerset Indus Capital Partners as a minority investor in the business. The announcement was made in the presence of Printmann's employees, customers and packaging partners during an event in Navi Mumbai.

WhatPackaging? magazine catches up with ITC's Prabhakar Venneti on the sidelines of Print Summit 24 at the Tata Theatre in NCPA, on 18 January

ITC's executive director Sumant Bhargavan, the man known for setting-up 'Bingo!', the snack food category at ITC spoke at length about three business ops - and how to keep abreast with the changes the consumer requires, and how ITC in India has responded; and how testing and research backed up by work on the ground has built the ITC brand.

ITC's executive director Sumant Bhargavan, the man known for setting-up 'Bingo!', the snack food category at ITC spoke at length about three business ops - and how to keep abreast with the changes the consumer requires, and how ITC in India has responded.

On 18 January 2024, all eyes will be on BMPA's Print Summit 2024 (PS24). The reason: An impressive line-up of speakers who will discuss all things print and packaging. Faheem Agboatwala, chairman of PS24 shares five highlights.

Anant Gadre speaks to the WhatPackaging? team about how the year (2023) was; what the learnings were; and how the packaging industry should march forward in 2024

Creating a comparison chart for flexo against other methods can be beneficial to illustrate the advantages, Sethunath Padmanabhan of Reproflex3

Despite this, many players are now looking beyond labels for growth opportunities, says Sethunath Padmanabhan of Reproflex3

The advantage of pre-media stems from adopting advanced workflows and technology, says Sethunath Padmanabhan of Reproflex3

These include graphic creation and adaptations, graphic production, approvals and data storage, says Sethunath Padmanabhan of Reproflex3

Business owners may need to recognise that flexo is not merely an art but also a science, says Sethunath Padmanabhan of Reproflex3

"Flexo trade shops that can invest in and nurture proper pre-press talent, adapt to new technologies and processes, and maintain a focus on delivering quality results are likely to have a promising future," says Sethunath Padmanabhan of Reproflex3 in an interview with Ramu Ramanathan

India seems to be a solid choice in Asia for Soma. With packaging on the ascendancy, and a perceptible shift from gravure to flexo, Pavla Kusá, commercial director, Soma, looks forward to the Indian market and creating innovative solutions. Pavla Kusa and Suhas Kulkarni in conversation with Ramu Ramanathan of WhatPackaging? magazine

The plate deployed by Multiflex is the ITP-60 photopolymer plates which is supplied to VeePee Graphics who in turn supplies the processed plates to Multiflex who produce multilayer flexible packaging. They have been using the ITP-60 photopolymer plates for two years

On 23 August Kodak India celebrates its 50th anniversary. Last week, the Kodak team had its APR Leadership meet in Mumbai. It took the opportunity to felicitate its partners, which have been instrumental in promoting Kodak solutions across India. Ramu Ramanathan caught up with the Kodak team

Morya Digital Labels (MDL) has invested in its first dedicated digital label press to enhance flexibility as run-lengths shorten. The Bhandup-based manufacturer announced the purchase at the ProPak show in Mumbai.

The second-hand tin segment is hazardous. Cleaning edible oil tin cans means menial, unlawful and hazardous jobs. In two months, a dedicated team at JSW Steel transformed the waagris from obscurity to becoming partners. A report by Ramu Ramanathan

The 31st IAPRI Members' Conference witnessed 62 international participants from 13 countries and 52 from India. Ramu Ramanathan spoke to Dr Jay Singh, professor of the packaging program of the Orfalea College of Business of Cal Poly State University, on the sidelines of the conference at the Four Points Sheraton in Navi Mumbai

India should promote machinery manufactured in India, says Amit Kale, vice-president, Reliance after attending Interpack 2023

The 31st IAPRI Members' Conference witnessed 62 international participants from 13 countries and 52 from India. Ramu Ramanathan spoke to Dr Jay Singh, professor of the packaging program of the Orfalea College of Business of Cal Poly State University, on the sidelines of the conference at the Four Points Sheraton in Navi Mumbai

Ramu Ramanathan of WhatPackaging? magazine caught up with Arnab Maiti of general manager - South Asia of Esko Graphics on the sidelines of the two day Respack conference at The Lalit hotel where he was speaking about responsible package design

Jatin Takkar, head of product safety & regulations at Siegwerk in India says food safety has been a topic of discussion among the packaging industry stakeholders for quite a while now. In a conversation with Ramu Ramanathan, he said, Everyone from regulatory agencies to ink and substrate manufacturers to converters are waking up to the importance of safe packaging for food items as well as the legal implications.

Co-founder and director of Elephant, Ashwini Deshpande reports from Interpack, held May 4–10 in Düsseldorf and focuses on technologies and sustainability and connected packaging, as well as what more can India do

The Flint Group in India is powered by factories in Vadodara and Hosur. Upal Roy, who is the managing director managing director for packaging, India, Middle East, and Africa at Flint Group shares with Ramu Ramanathan how the group has introduced inks and coatings along with new test facilities to help brands meet tough new targets. As Roy says, "we have a separate, dedicated facility for the production of toluene-free and ketone-free inks to avoid contamination."

The food waste in India is a serious problem as it averages 50 kg per person every year. The WhatPackaging? Team looks at the steps to be taken in terms of developing a business or a technology model which can ensure that food waste does not happen

KS Murthy of Toyo Inks has always maintained that “sustainable ink products are the need of the hour.” In a conversation with Ramu Ramanathan of WhatPackaging? magazine, Murthy talks about the IS 15495 – 2020: Printing Ink for Food Packaging – Code of Practice. He says, “the ink industry has always come together to guarantee the standards to deliver sustainable products”

For six years, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been working to update the IS 15495 standard for printing ink for food packaging. In June 2020, BIS revised the printing ink standards for food packaging as per IS 15495: 2020. Ganesh Angne, an industry veteran and ex-director at Micro Inks (now Huber), talks to Ramu Ramanathan about the IS 15495 implementation

Prashant Atre, MD at Toyo Inks Arets and director of Toyo Ink India, in a conversation with Ramu Ramanathan talks about how UV LED inks are green-friendly. Atre talks about the chemistry that drives the new range of UV LED systems and inks and explains how UV LED inks are much-more acceptable, now

“Awareness towards food packaging is prevalent in the market. While ink manufacturers are making inks by ensuring exclusion list of IS-15495 for food packaging, most of the brands like Nestle, Britannia, Mondelez, Mars, HUL (food division), ITC (food division), Coke, Pepsico have have adopted toluene free ink system for their food packaging segments,” says VK Seth, the managing director of Sakata.

He might be new to packaging, but EPL’s managing director and global CEO, Anand Kripalu says, he’s a sucker for accepting challenges, and will do what it takes. Kripalu opened up to Ramu Ramanathan to discuss EPL’s business, innovation, growth sustainability and journey ahead

Shirish Yadav, vice president of ITC-Foods talks to Ramu Ramanathan about the solutions that packaging manufacturers should develop to address changes in food manufacturing, processing and handling

He might be new to packaging, but EPL’s managing director and global CEO, Anand Kripalu says, he’s a sucker for accepting challenges, and will do what it takes. Kripalu opened up to Ramu Ramanathan to discuss EPL’s business, innovation, growth sustainability and journey ahead

From recyclable laminates for coffee packaging to a recyclable solution to replace multilayer packaging for pulses, ITC's Packaging and Printing Business has ramped up the sustainability index in its factories. In conversation with WhatPackaging? magazine