India Expansions: Berry to build facility in India; Constantia Flexibles announces joint venture in India

Healthcare solutions provider Berry Global Group will begin product production at its second manufacturing facility and healthcare centre in Bangalore, India, as early as April 2023.

The new Bangalore plant will improve global patient access to products for the inhalation, nasal, ophthalmic, dispensing, and self-injection industries, while a R&D centre will support the development of solutions for existing and new applications to improve medicine administration and functionality.

The R&D centre will be launching up to seven new products and projects in 2023 ranging from DPI Inhalers to plastics caps and closures. Included among these products will be Berry’s Pneumohaler, a lightweight, breath-actuated, multidose inhaler dose counter for the control and treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Several new medical packaging products will be available for sampling with industrial prototypes in March 2023.  

Located in close proximity to some of the largest, generic pharmaceutical companies, the Bangalore site's ability to cater pharmaceutical packaging to US regulatory requirements will enable the local manufacture of healthcare products, at a global scale, says Berry. The site will use ISO class clean rooms, as well as leverage Berry’s experience submitting Active Drug Master Files (DMFs) to regulatory agencies, and providing active DMF and filling for regulated markets. 

“Improved drug affordability and greater access to modern healthcare solutions are more important than ever in India, one of the most populated countries in the world. Our new facility and R&D centre will benefit the domestic economy by creating new jobs and the regional economy overall by improving healthcare access and providing locally manufactured products,” said Jean-Marc Galvez, President of Consumer Packaging International.

Berry’s new Bangalore site will source the equivalent of around 90% of the facility’s electricity from solar and wind power. The site has also achieved the International Sustainability and Carbon Certificate (ISCC) Plus designation.

Several products developed at the Bangalore site will be available for sampling at the 2023 Pharmapack Paris exhibition. These products will include Berry’s innovative, patient-centric packaging and dispensing solutions, as well drug delivery devices for medicines and pharmaceuticals that meet the growing demand for sustainability and digitalisation. Among these products will be Berry’s Activated Rispharm (with a Risdrop nozzle), a recyclable, multidose antimicrobial dropper that helps prevent eye microbial infections and produces 16X less waste than a unidose dropper. 

In other news, Austrian flexible packaging supplier Constantia Flexibles has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement for its Indian business and operations with Premji Invest and SB Packagings. The combination will help Constantia Flexibles achieve its ambition to grow further and create value in the Indian market, it adds.

The JV is pursuing organic as well as inorganic growth in higher added value market segments in India, continuing its strong growth trajectory in the hygiene segment whilst further developing the more sustainable mono-material EcoLam product range. With the new partners, Constantia Flexibles is able to strengthen its business in the region and various market segments. As SB Packagings is a leading player in the hygiene segment, the new partnership will help extend Constantia Flexibles’ portfolio.

The closing of the joint venture agreement is expected to be completed by the end of March, pending regulatory approvals. KPMG India acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Constantia Flexibles for the transaction.

SB Packagings, founded in 1989 by O.P Banga & Amit Banga, is one of the leading flexible packaging companies based out of India. SBP group over the past four decades, has been at the forefront of manufacturing mono-polymer sustainable packaging.

Premji Invest is the investment arm of Azim Premji's endowment and philanthropic initiatives. It has been active in investing in the Indian markets for over ten years with a large investment corpus. The focus of investments has been to grow medium-sized Indian companies into large companies that can compete globally. Investments of Premji Invest are across sectors like consumer, financials, technology, and manufacturing and to name a few include, Fab India, Hygienic Research, ID foods, Lenskart, Policy Bazaar, Flipkart, SBI General Life Insurance, Gold Plus Glass, Best Value Chemicals, Sagar Cements, Micro Plastics and Shubham Housing.

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