Union Commerce Minister addressed Annual Convocation ceremony of Indian Institute of Packaging
Mumbai: The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh Prabhu has said that packaging has become the most important driving force for the marketing of a product. Citing the example of food products, the Minister said that many products, if not packaged properly, cannot even be used. Especially while selling to foreign markets, packaging assumes relevance due to other dimensions as well. The Minister said this, while addressing the Annual Convocation ceremony of Indian Institute of Packaging. Degrees were awarded to the graduating students of the 32nd Batch of Post Graduate Diploma in Packaging and of the 22nd batch of Diploma Programme in Packaging. Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri C. R. Chaudhary was also present on the occasion.
In light of the importance of the profession, Shri Prabhu congratulated the graduating students for having taken up this course. He expressed happiness at the 100% placements of the Institute.
The Minister said that packaging professionals must focus on using the right kind and optimum quantity of material for packaging, which will become more important in the future, from economic and environmental standpoints.
Shri Prabhu said that there must be regular interaction among government, industry and academia, which will ensure that academic projects and studies deal with problems faced by the real world.
Earlier, the formal inauguration of the newly constructed 5-storeyed academic block, International Packaging Center (IPC) and 7-storeyed Students’ Hostel was also done by the Minister on the occasion. This has been done, for the commencement of B.Tech and M.Tech programme in Packaging Technology and Management at Mumbai. The newly constructed premises at the main campus of the Institute at Mumbai will enhance the capabilities of the Institute in boosting packaging education and research at par with international standard.
Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, DGFT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Dr. S. K. Bansal; Director, IIP, Prof. (Dr.) N. C. Saha; Chairman, IIP, Mr. Subodh Gupta and other dignitaries were also present, apart from the parents and family of the graduating students.
The functions were followed by Packfest 2018 – an initiative by IIP started in the year 2010 to celebrate packaging technology in the country. The students of PGDP from different campuses organised the three-day Packaging Festival at the main campus of the Institute. During this festival, students displayed models made from packaging solid waste and also participated in various competitions like poster presentation, debate competition and group discussion in packaging.
Speaking about the functions, Director, Director, IIP, Dr N C Saha said, “We are excited about the new building that will house our B. Tech, M. Tech and Ph. D programmes. These new buildings are a great addition to our infrastructure and we hope to have more state-of-the-art facilities for our students. The convocation and Packfest programmes were also a great occasion for all the students and staff to come together.”
The size of the global packaging industry is about $825 billion whereas the Indian Packaging Industry will be $24.6 billion by the end of 2018. The annual growth rate of global packaging industry is about 5-6 percent whereas the Indian Packaging industry is growing at the rate of 11-13 percent per annum. Considering the great demand for packaging professionals in the packaging converting and packaging user industry, the Governing body of the Institute decided to commence B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D programmes in Packaging Technology and management.
The institute expects that with the commencement of B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D programme in Packaging Technology and Management, the country would be able to create a ‘hub’ of packaging professionals to meet the demand of packaging industry. In addition, packaging research leading to Ph.D programme would be able to upgrade the packaging research by way of developing innovative, alternative, eco-friendly packaging materials to meet the compliance of environmental regulation and also for the overall growth and development of Indian packaging industry.
The main objective of the institute is to promote the export market by way of innovative package design, development and also to upgrade the overall standards of packaging at national level. Packaging education is indispensable for any business and technical knowledge is required for all the major players involved.
The course curriculum at IIP has recently undergone a review under the guidance of education committee of the governing body of the Institute by including a few important subjects like package design, Eco- Packaging etc. Most importantly, the course is well recognized by the packaging converting industry and MNCs are known to participate in the campus placement regularly. Till date, more than 5000 students have qualified from the Institute and are well absorbed at senior positions in leading FMCG companies in India and abroad.
Indian Institute of Packaging is an autonomous body and working under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India. It has branches in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad with headquarters and principal laboratories in Mumbai. In addition, three more branches are to be opened in Bangalore, Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) and Guwahati.
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