Nipra highlights aluminium and crown closure capabilities amid premiumisation trends

Nipra used the event to underline its 40-year journey in metal packaging, a business that began in 1982 and has since evolved into one of India’s largest producers of aluminium ROPP closures. Nikhil Jain, director at Nipra, said the company today manufactures closures for alco-bev spirits, wine, pharmaceuticals, olive oil and, more recently, premium water — a category increasingly shifting to glass formats. With premium variants of packaged water and sparkling water gaining visibility, Jain noted that brands are actively seeking alternatives to standard PET closures, which opens up a clear opportunity for metal closures.

Sustainability formed a strong theme, with Jain emphasising that aluminium “recycles forever.” Nipra sends 100% of its process scrap back to metal supplier Hindalco for remelting, ensuring a closed-loop, fully recyclable material flow. While the company does not run a formal consumer-side collection system, Jain said aluminium inherently carries value in the scrap chain, ensuring it is rarely discarded.

Nipra currently operates six factories across North, West and South India, with additional land acquisition and a new building already underway at its Umargaon facility. Over the last five years, the company has expanded capacity through multiple new lines while also diversifying into crown caps — used for beer, carbonated drinks and RTDs. Jain said the move into crowns is a “related diversification,” leveraging existing coating and printing capabilities but targeted at a growth segment. He added that demographic shifts, a rising young population and changing consumption patterns are driving renewed momentum in the beer category, making the segment increasingly attractive for metal closures.

Technically, crown caps differ from aluminium closures in material and function. While Nipra’s ROPP closures are aluminium, crowns are made from steel — the global standard for maintaining carbonation pressure and offering the hardness required at thin material gauges.

This edition marked Nipra’s first appearance at drinktec India, following a successful showing at drinktec Munich two months earlier. Jain said the response in Munich encouraged the company to broaden its domestic exhibition presence, especially as its crown-cap line begins commercial traction. The footfall at the show was strong, with the team “too busy to take a lunch break,” signalling active interest from brand owners, bottlers and packaging buyers.