DS Group’s Sanjay Gupta on smart, sustainable packaging

As India’s FMCG landscape transforms under the influence of quick commerce and regulatory shifts, the DS Group is pioneering an evolved packaging strategy built on speed, security, and sustainability. The company was established in 1929 and is headquartered in Noida. It is involved with various industries, including mouth fresheners, food and beverages, confectioneries, agriculture, and luxury retail.

“Quick commerce has fundamentally shifted the packaging brief — from shelf appeal to speed, safety, and serviceability,” says Sanjay Gupta, senior vice president for corporate procurement and packaging development at the DS Group. The company has designed formats such as resealable spice pouches and tamper-proof sachets to meet delivery demands while preserving product quality.

Packaging challenges in qCommerce — ranging from temperature fluctuations to tampering — are met with robust materials and a co-developed vendor ecosystem. “Our spice range now features multi-layer laminates and tamper-evident seals,” Gupta explains, underscoring a collaboration-led approach.

To balance lightweight design with durability, the DS Group has turned to innovative substrates, including FSC-certified paperboards and hybrid film layers. These not only protect the product but also integrate anti-counterfeit features. “We run simulation tests mimicking quick commerce conditions — pressure, stacking, shock, and heat — to pre-validate performance,” Gupta adds.

Sustainability remains a cornerstone. DS Group was among India’s first FMCG firms to adopt post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials at scale. “We apply the 7R framework — rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, replace, and recover,” Gupta says. This eco-thinking is now embedded throughout the company’s packaging lifecycle.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is no longer an afterthought. “Our internal teams work with material flow trackers to map how our packaging behaves post-consumption. This helps us reintegrate recycled material into our packaging stream where technically feasible. EPR is no longer an end-stage responsibility; it’s become a design input from day one,” Gupta notes, highlighting partnerships with recyclers and material flow mapping for end-to-end accountability.

Looking ahead, the DS Group is investing in smart, circular, and personalised packaging innovations. “We aim to create packaging that is as intelligent as the product it contains — simple, honest, and future-ready,” Gupta concludes.