Wednesday, 26 August 2026, at the Elite conference on specialty films and flexible packaging in Mumbai contained remarkable knowledge, technology, and a combination of economic and industry information. With over two thousand participants and supported by suppliers from more than 30 countries, the conference program gave full play to the robust growth of the Indian economy and especially its fast-growing middle class that is expected to exceed 750 million by 2035.
Venkiah Subbiah of the Murugappa Group, which acquired the global Huber Inks and Chemical company a couple of years ago, while not speaking directly about the acquisition, revealed its logic. Subbiah spoke of the robust growth of the Indian economy that started as a consumption story but now presents a scaling and monetization opportunity. Equally, it presents an opportunity for global manufacturers as costs can be 40% lower than in Europe, with global research and development setting up here even as Indian companies set up and expand their R&D.
“Global practices are becoming standard,” he said, adding, “India is accepted as a trusted partner to global players.” Pointing to some of the recent Free Trade Agreements, he said, “Export is the only way for India to grow.”
There were several highlights on a day rooted in respect for the builders of the flexible packaging industry in the country. There were inputs from scientists, knowledgeable and activist government agencies keen on local and regional sustainability practices, brand owners, packaging converters and formidable suppliers of technology for producing and scaling new and more recyclable films for packaging and other industrial applications. Investment and export criteria and opportunities were discussed by private equity players, government and industry.
There were several extremely important talks or presentations that I will return to later. Suffice to say in this brief introduction that several breakthrough technologies were presented. Chandubhai Virani, the founder and managing director of Balaji Wafers, spoke entirely in Hindi and revealed how a small company in a small Indian city has become a global consumer product and packaging leader and exporter. Virani said that he and his family have built the company with an ethos of humanity, community and understanding.
As the company has built automated snack manufacturing plants and a state–of–the–art flexible packaging plant with global best practices in several Indian states, growing to 5,000 employees and over 2 million outlets, he said that in the past 15 years it has invested US$ 330 million of its own funds. He spoke of the next generation of the family, as it now takes over the operations as highly educated professionals. “It combines our experience of being frugal and practical with professionalism, as the company is poised for growth and possibly even going public in the coming years, he said.
