he Rs 1,350-crore Flex Group, which has been content to be a supplier of packaging material to FMCG biggies such as Nestl�, Cadbury and Procter & Gamble, is taking on the role of consumer marketer as well. It has recently launched Zipouch, a food storage product, which, it hopes, will contribute Rs 200 crore to the topline within the next five years.

"We were planning to launch a new packaging concept in India - storage bags for household purposes - which are very popular abroad," says S Kumar, president, Flex Industries Limited (FIL), international division. Company executives saw a similar product in a trade exhibition in Europe in 2001 which sparked the idea. It took three years to evolve Zipouch for the Indian consumer. What distinguishes it from the normal storage bags is that Zipouch is both reusable and its plastic version is microwaveable. The company began to export Zipouch to the US and UK markets in 2003 but has turned its attention to the Indian market only now. ... more