At the Bharat Packaging Expo 2027 curtain-raiser, held at the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Delhi on 19 June 2026, Indranil Saha, packaging head, Dabur, spoke on the topic ‘Packaging is under pressure, faster product launches, changing consumer demand and the need for agility.’
According to Saha, there is a lot of volatility in the market today because of the war and other issues, which is making the market a little more dynamic. Each day is a new day for the industry, which faces a lot of issues, either empirical or from the government’s end.
“The FMCG industry is under pressure to deliver a project on time, with accuracy and speed. The key forces reshaping modern packaging and consumer expectations are – sustainability, functionality, transparency, brand clarity, personalization, and consistency,” Saha said.
Today, customers expect faster delivery. From design to the market, the timelines have drastically reduced over a period of time. Customers expect a faster turnaround so that they are able to fight the market dynamics much better, Saha said through an online presentation.
For instance, because of the war, prices of oil and petrochemicals have significantly gone up, Saha said, adding there was an immediate need to balance the cost so that it is not transferred to the customer and consumer. “At this stage, a lot of these changes are made to the packaging. The packaging guys are working on certain elements, such as how we can downgauge the material further without losing the aesthetic or functional value.”
“The industry will work towards taking fit drops, which is basically maintaining the product within the price range—what is the best we can give. In rigid packaging, we look at how we can accommodate these changes faster so that the new fit drops or the new embellishments are made without increasing the cost for consumers,” Saha said.
According to Saha, consumers are more demanding these days – looking at more personalization. Different age groups demand different elements from the FMCG industry, Saha said, adding the younger generation looks at sustainability and clearer communication. They want convenience because they like to travel and experiment.
Earlier, consumers would find only one or two variants of shampoos or hair wax. Today, there are multiple variants from a single brand in different sizes. It can be as small as a sachet and as big as a 1- or 1.5-liter pump pad.
In Saha’s opinion, companies put a lot of focus on developing different SKUs at varying price points for different consumers across geographies. So, for urban customers, there are bigger packs, while for rural customers, there are smaller, economical packs.
“The modern package is reshaping. Speed has become a critical element. Whenever we work on a new or an existing project, it starts with a brief idea and reduced cycles of development,” he said. Long discussions are skipped, and the team sticks to a structured brief to save time.
“Now we have multiple parallel work streams. 10 years ago, rapid prototyping did not exist. Only a drawing was available. So, if someone at the factory wanted to make a change, they used to wait for the actual mold to deliver a bottle.” Now, with rapid prototyping, once the design is ready, the factories start working based on the machine requirements. This happens in parallel with the mold development.
Ever since technology has evolved, multiple suppliers have started working on hybrid and digital presses for printing and even mold development. These are high-end machines from Japan or Germany, which help in reducing the timeline in a very significant way, he said.
Wherever startups or bigger organizations want to enter a new segment or market and want to accelerate the launch, they take this route, he said, adding that a conventional route would take around 30 to 45 days for a printed label or a laminate to get developed and delivered at the factory. Digital, on the other hand, would take not less than one to two weeks to deliver.
Consumers are looking at six elements from a brand – sustainability, personalization, functionality, brand clarity, consistency across the channels, and transparency. There is a lot of communication on the back of the label, but they want very minimal traceability, mentioning where the product has been sourced, so that they have better confidence in it.
The communication has to be so clear and sharp so that they are able to understand what this product is meant for and if it suits them.
These customer requirements have evolved over the period of time, and the packaging fraternity today needs to deliver these consumer expectations in the fastest time.
