Respack: Leaders discuss value, true circularity and the future of flexible packaging

"We cannot pretend that the supply of fossil fuels is unlimited."  With this stark reminder, Dr Nandini Kumar, who leads the Indian Plastics Pact initiative at the Confederation of Indian Industry, set a sobering tone for a high-level panel of FMCG packaging leaders at Respack 2026. Kumar revealed that corporate signatories to the pact now place roughly 25% of India’s plastic packaging on market shelves, giving the group immense power to shift the market. 

Yet, she noted that recent private discussions with brand owners revealed a deeper anxiety, with many admitting that volatile supply chains and commodity inflation had quietly forced long-term sustainability to the back seat in favour of short-term survival. 

The value paradox on the Indian retail shelf. For brands operating in the domestic mass market, navigating these disruptions requires an unprecedented level of corporate agility. Moving away from rigid, multi-year strategic frameworks has become an operational necessity.  "We will have to be flexible," explained Vindhya Ayyagari, VP global packaging at Tata consumer products. "We cannot be working on a framework which was set two years back or three years ago. Any of these situations forces us to do a risk assessment again on how we can drive these things. Because at the same time, you need to be cognisant of the costs that are coming, and the value that we are generating at the end of what we are giving to the consumer as well."  

This balancing act becomes particularly acute when matching sustainability with consumer expectations. Amit Kale, representing Reliance retail, pointed out that while eco-friendly materials heavily bolster a brand's public reputation, the raw cost premium remains a barrier for domestic mass adoption. "India is a value-driven country," Kale remarked bluntly. "We always talk about discounts. We always try to buy something on sale. That is our nature. If we are targeting our products to be given to the masses in India, we have to price it at ten rupees. In that context, sustainability becomes difficult."  

Kale argued that unlike European markets where consumers routinely prioritise material quality over shelf cost, Indian brands are currently forced to absorb rising vegetable and agricultural input costs while maintaining exact entry-level price points. In this environment, long-term environmental commitments are frequently sidelined by the immediate demands of commercial viability. Postponing the hard question on flexiblesThe most candid critique of the session focused on the industry's heavy reliance on multi-layer flexible pouches and laminates.

ITC’s Biswarup Chakraborty conceded that from a material efficiency and economic perspective, flexible packaging is fundamentally unbeatable. Had India adopted the heavy, rigid container models favored in the West, the domestic consumer sector would currently be facing a catastrophic shortage of plastic resins.  

However, he warned that the industry's current enthusiasm for monomaterial structures may simply be masking structural flaws in the recycling ecosystem.  "I think we are not doing enough," he admitted. "I don't think we are looking at it from the right lens that we should be looking at. The biggest point is that we are making monomaterials, but they are still laminated, reverse printed, and have metallisation. When that gets recycled, what you get is a greyish-green material. There is not enough demand for that material and hence not enough value for recyclers to pick it up." Chakraborty argued that packaging designers are failing to pioneer surface-printed, unmetallised alternatives that yield clear, high-value regranulate. 

With chemical recycling still scaling at an economically unfeasible price point, he noted that the industry is effectively kicking a massive waste liability down the road. "At the end of the day, I would say that probably we are postponing the hard question and enough is not being done in that direction," he added.  

Balancing food spoilage against plastic wasteDefending the functional necessity of polymers, HUL’s Geetanjali Vats argued that current economic strains should be treated as a catalyst for creative disruption rather than a reason to halt progress. "Crisis is equal to opportunity," Vats stated. "Unless and until we are opportune enough or creative enough to find a solution in that, there is no way we can adapt. If today plastic is not the case, maybe glass, maybe tin, maybe paper—we are all eventually looking at traditional packaging systems which are more sustainable, long-lasting and have value which we in some form or the other forgot."  

The technical reality of this material trade-off is particularly evident when preventing food spoilage. Himanshi Mahajan, representing Mother Dairy, pointed out that looking at plastic waste in isolation ignores a far larger environmental threat: global food waste accounts for roughly 10% of global emissions, whereas plastic packaging represents less than 2%.

"Packaging needs to be built to prevent food waste in a longer supply chain," Mahajan explained. "If there is a chance to increase the shelf life of a commodity like milk from two days to 90 days, and from refrigeration to ambient, then I think it is a great choice. But what is it going to do then? It is going to add a challenge to the overall plastic waste or plastic recyclability."  

According to Mahajan, the solution lies in a dual responsibility. Brand owners must continue to engineer sophisticated, high-barrier plastics to protect food over non-refrigerated networks, while simultaneously taking full financial responsibility for their downstream collection. "Optimum packaging material which can provide safe food in its entire supply chain must be responsibly engineered from its recyclability point of view also, so that plastic does not become a burden later on," she urged.  

The regulatory push and the collaboration barrier. When pressed on what true sustainability progress would look like in the absence of government mandates, the panel unanimously agreed that legislative intervention had been the primary driver of change. 

"The regulations have essentially made it a level playing field for everyone to survive and thrive at the same time," Vats observed. Kale added that prior to strict Extended Producer Responsibility compliance targets, corporate procurement was dictated strictly by quality, lead times and price. Government targets forced corporate boards to look beyond the immediate balance sheet and actively invest in recycling infrastructure.  Mahajan noted that before the mandates took effect, her team faced immense resistance when trying to introduce recycled resins into secondary and tertiary cartons. 

"None of the industry was ready at that time with the recycled granules and our virgin plastic because they were afraid of introducing any new policies in packaging," Mahajan said. "With this one, now we have a solution available and it has become very easy and economical to do that."  

Ultimately, the final barrier to a true circular economy remains the intense, protective rivalries within the consumer goods sector. Standardising packaging—such as competing brands agreeing to use the exact same polymer specifications for flexible films so that local waste pickers can easily sort and aggregate them—remains incredibly difficult.  

"Fast-moving consumer goods are extremely competitive in nature," Chakraborty observed. "Our biggest worry is, I will do something, my competitor will not do it, and it will become my commercial disadvantage. If three competitors agree that this is what needs to be done and we will all do it together, many things will get done. It does not get done only because we are all worried that I will do it, and he or she will not do it."  

Naveen Stuart, representing Marico, agreed, noting that individual, proprietary design tweaks fail to scale across municipal waste streams. "The situation is how we can innovate ourselves, innovate packaging as an industry, and bring value out of it," Sohra said, emphasizing that a fragmented approach cannot achieve true circularity. "It is a combination of innovation and material, along with circularity, how we can bring it all together."  

Kumar confirmed that the Indian Plastics Pact has begun the arduous process of working directly with competing fast-moving consumer goods brands to harmonise their flexible packaging profiles across store shelves. "We have only just started this work," Kumar concluded, "But I hope it will create an impact."