Parikh Packaging ties up with Walmart

Ahmedabad-based Parikh Packaging, a packaging solutions company, has tied up with Bharti Walmart for packaging the products for its stores.

The Rs 65 crore company is planning an investment of Rs 45-50 crore in the next five years in order to find a place in top five list of Indian packaging firms. "We have tied-up with Bharti-Walmart, which will be launching 1200 stores this year. We would be packing 28 products for them," said Pavan Parikh, director, Parikh Packaging, at the launch of the company's brownfield unit on Thursday.

The company unveiled its new state-of-art unit at its existing plant near Changodar. The company already has two units at the existing plant. The newly-launched unit is a world wide patented side zipper unit introduced for the first time in India and has added-advantage such as cost saving, easy dispensing, better shape, better shelf-life and easy storage & handling.The company, established in 1999, has so far invested Rs. 50 crore including Rs. 30 crore for the brownfield expansion and plans additional investment of Rs. 45-50 crore by 2014-15.

"With this new unit, our total capacity now stands at 800 ton per month, which was 10 ton at the time of inception. We target sales of Rs. 150 crore by 2012-13 from turnover of Rs. 65 crore as of now. We export 30 per cent of our productions to overseas markets like the USA, the Europe, the UK and Canada," Parikh added.

The company also launched Baggiz packaging for which it is in talks with Frito-Lay and Lever Brothers for packaging their snacks.

Parikh Packaging is also planning to set up a research centre to offer better shelf life and cost effectiveness to packaging. "The research centre will be called RR Parikh Research Centre and will come up in four to five months. The centre will be set up to check the microbiological aspects of packaging, apart from offering better shelf life to the packets at an effective cost. We will obtain government-approved equipments to ensure that our certification has better credibility. This will enable us to attract customers, especially food and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, and also help us contribute to the packaging industry with our research," Parikh said. The company will invest Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore for the project.

The company sees a huge potential for business in India with its $18 billion packaging business industry., "Against the industry average of 22 per cent, the company has successfully clocked in 43 per cent growth rate in recent years. The company sees great potential for business in India, as only three per cent of the food products are sold in packed form."

Considering the burgeoning demand of eco-friendly products, the company has also developed capacity to supply green and recyclable packaging solutions. Company’s clientele includes some Indian biggies such as Dabur India, Amul, Hinze India, Paras, Waghbakri and Emami, while its multinational clients includes Wal-Mart & Wrigley. It also has a tie-up with the $14 billion 'AMCOR, to market its retortable pouches for ready-to-eat products in India. Parikh Packaging is a group company of the Parikh Group established in 1940.