With an expanding portfolio, a strong presence in hygiene packaging, and an increasing focus on sustainable materials, technology, and cost innovation, SB-Constantia plans to grow significantly faster than the market while helping to shape the next phase of India’s flexible packaging industry.
Post SB-Constantia JV formation in May 2023, the company has built a significant presence in the country’s flexible packaging industry. Its eight operating units across the country support what CEO Amit Shah describes as a leadership position in the domestic flexible packaging segment, while the company’s roots in hygiene packaging give it a particularly strong position in that important application segment.
At the time of announcing the joint venture, the company had said that the combination would focus on growth in higher-value segments, continued growth in hygiene and the development of more sustainable mono-material solutions such as EcoLam. They are now looking beyond simply consolidating that position.
Marzban Thanevala, chief marketing officer, SB-Constantia, describes the company’s strength as a combination of global technology and compliance expertise with deep knowledge of the Indian market. As per our earlier article covering our visit to SB-Constantia’s plant at Sampla, there is a substantial focus on packaging for fem care, baby care, adult care, alongside applications in food, home and personal care, and beverages.
From flexible packaging to sustainability and deeper customer engagement
Amit Shah points to the company’s broad product portfolio and intention to keep building on its sustainability focus along with new products, capabilities and capacities. He says the strategy is supported by two key themes, sustainability and customer engagement. The latter is particularly important in a B2B business where the packaging converter’s ability to understand brand owner requirements can determine how effectively innovation reaches the market.
Thanevala describes this approach as customer intimacy. “When one reaches that level of customer engagement, where the customer and we have a coherent, partnership approach, essentially thinking as one team, then one’s ability to understand needs – both stated and unstated, helps to deliver great value to the partnership.”
For SB-Constantia, the objective is to continuously deliver innovation. The company sees itself as a B2B partner whose success is ultimately measured by the success it enables for its customers. “We are in the business of helping our customers to win in the marketplace,” he says.
Innovation with affordability
One of the more interesting aspects of SB-Constantia’s innovation strategy is its focus on cost innovation alongside conventional product innovation. The first track is developing value-added products, improving consumer convenience, solving customer problems, and bringing new products to market.
He explains, “The second is about finding ways to deliver similar or improved functionality at a lower cost. This is particularly relevant in India, where affordability for consumers is still one of the major drivers.”
Recognising that the need for cost efficiency is particularly pronounced in India, the company sees cost innovation as another form of technological and product development.
Sustainability as an ongoing journey
Sustainability is another area where SB-Constantia has been building expertise. Over the past years, the company established itself as an early advocate of polyethylene-based monolayer packaging in India, and then developed its EcoLam machine-direction-oriented (MDO) PE solutions for applications where recyclability and barrier performance are both important. EcoLam incorporates printing, barrier, and heat-sealing within laminated mono-material PE films to produce pouches composed entirely of polyethylene, while also satisfying all graphic and functional requirements.
The sustainability discussion is now moving beyond material selection. SB-Constantia has been working extensively with post-consumer recycled content. The company has emerged as a major producer of PCR-content-based flexible packaging materials and has provided solutions for complying with the regulation mandating 10% recycled content usage, which is effective from April 2025, and further moving to 20% recycled content usage mandated from April 2027.
At Right Hygiene 2026, Thanewala outlined several trends that are visible in the market. One of them is a movement from surface-printed mono-material polyethylene towards structures where the graphic is sandwiched between layers of polyethylene, bringing the benefits associated with reverse printing to the hygiene market. There is also more focus on the FMoT (First Moment of Truth), and hence, brands are looking for superior graphics and higher functionality to communicate higher product quality and a premium outlook.
The significance is that the industry does not have to choose between sustainability and a premium look and feel. “Getting all the benefits of reverse print in a product range where surface print has been the norm is quite unique,” he explains.
The company’s approach is essentially to retain the sustainability advantages of mono-material polyethylene while continuing to improve its aesthetic and functional capabilities. Other developments include packaging for perfume-infused products, paper-look graphics and greater emphasis on graphic quality. The paper-look effect is particularly interesting because the underlying material can remain unchanged while the appearance gives consumers a different perception of the package. On a separate note, SB-Constantia is working on paper-based solutions for all kinds of flexible packaging.
5-year plan to leverage growth to FY2031
Shah says SB-Constantia has formulated an ambitious five-year plan, developed by involving the entire team, to determine a roadmap to FY31 along with the drivers to deliver this ambition. The plan includes expanding the existing product portfolio, increasing market share, growing business with existing customers, and entering new product categories. Shah stated that the company wants to more than double its turnover over the next five years and more than triple its bottom line.
Summing up, Thanewala noted that the company’s priorities are to move beyond the traditional role of a flexible packaging converter. The company wants to grow its market share, expand into new categories and deepen existing customer relationships. At the same time, it is investing in sustainable structures, recycled content, cost innovation, advanced printing and emerging technologies.
He expects the changes to become increasingly visible in the coming years. Some innovations are already visible in the company’s hygiene, labels, home and personal care portfolios, while many others are under near-term development. He also hints that several new products are in the pipeline but stops short of revealing them before their market launch.
Amit Shah adds, “We will see a very different SB-Constantia a year and a half down the line as compared to how you see it today.” Watch this space!
