“The Indian pressure-sensitive label market is growing at 10% per year, fastest in the world, and the trend will continue going forward as rising disposable income propels demand for food, beverages, durables, etc.,” said Pankaj Bhardwaj, commercial director – South Asia, labels and packaging materials, Avery Dennison during a talk delivered at a two-day Armor Technical Club organized by France’s Armor Group in Bengaluru on 4-5 April. Labelling goes into multiple applications in segments such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, durables, variable information, among others.
Providing further details about the nature of the 10% growth rate seen in the pressure-sensitive label market, Bhardwaj said that about 7-8% growth is organic while the remaining 2-3% is being added by transfer from wet glue to pressure-sensitive labels. “We believe there is enough headroom in India to continue expanding the pressure-sensitive penetration,” he said adding India is still lagging its Asian peers when it comes to usage of pressure-sensitive label as wet glue is still dominant. Pressure-sensitive labels account for about 17-18% of the overall label market in India. Bhardwaj, however, stressed that for 10% annual growth to be sustained for a long time, all industry stakeholders need to come together.
“This growth will not happen automatically but will need effort from the industry. The industry will need to educate the customers about pressure-sensitive labels and the advantages it brings on board. Stakeholders will also need to relentlessly pursue expansion of the industry size,” he added.
Variable information applications are expanding in India and the demand is being driven by mobile and food industries as several foreign companies are now setting up manufacturing bases in India. Another industry that is helping variable information space is eCommerce. This segment is growing at a phenomenal pace; some studies suggest it is growing at the rate of almost 30% and the size of the market is expected to touch US$ 120 billion by 2020. Organized retail trade is another driver of the variable information application as more and more SKUs are getting labelled now.
“All these factors will push the growth rate in variable information segment into double digits,” he said.
