Changing philosophies of work in Indian packaging is crucial to its development, says Rajiv Dhar. Secretary General of The Aseptic Food Processing & Packaging Industry Association of India, he has worked in the field for years and knows more than most about the opportunities there for the taking. He talks to Martin Parley.

Switching from military service to packaging is not a well-trodden career path and is made harder when ‘confronted with outdated and entrenched methods that no longer provide sustainable work practices for industry’, says Dhar.

‘The Indian economy is growing greatly and packaging can contribute significantly, but when I talk to people they are not ready to make strategic choices, they don’t see packaging technology as an investment,’ says Dhar. ‘It is a cost to them and mostly they are not ready to invest in the technology and wellbeing of their operators. This is a cause of concern, especially in the food industry.’

Dhar has been encouraging the packaging industry in India to break away from what he sees as the biggest problem – its mindset. He explains how, in the corrugated box industry in India, there are around 20,000 box corrugators and only 150 have gone for the automated plants and that is too recently. The view is that packaging is only there to protect a product, not as something that adds value.

‘I never promote packaging in isolation. Rather I make an attempt to educate people, talk to them and try to find a strategic solution. Strategic thinking for us should be conceiving ways to build and sustain competitive advantage for the packaging sector,’ he says.

Air force, engineering and management

Dhar was born in Kasmir in 1953, and grew up and studied in Delhi at the Harcourt Butler School. He moved on to study at Punjabi Engineering College and completed a Masters at The Indian Institute of Science. He joined the Indian Air Force where he worked in the area of logistics, operations, engineering and general management.

It was while in service that his interest in packaging began with the initial training he had in packaging and management of specialised stores followed by learning about materials, then progressing onto areas such as supply chain management. At one point, as the leader, the young engineer had the duty of packing and conveying specialist equipment worth millions of Rupees through the unpredictable roads and railways of India and that was his first exposure to the inadequate infrastructure that can hurt industrial growth. By the age of 42, as a select-grade Wing Commander, when others were looking forward to becoming Group Captain, he was ready to move on. ‘In those days you did not just leave the force, you needed a valid reason,’ states Dhar, ‘But, since I was the only son whose family was affected by problems in the valley, they let me go on compassionate grounds.’

His lucky break came when he was appointed General Manager for establishing a paper cup manufacturing company, which was one of the first ventures to use flexo-printing with water-based inks in India. Leading a team of just seven people, he devised unique ways to work and train, and allowed members to experiment in the technology, which was new in those days in India.

Economic boost

Packaging in India started to blossom following the opening of the economy in the 1990s. The boom was due to the so-called ‘economic liberalisation’ in India, when economic reforms, such as allowing privatisation and deregulation of international trading laws, were put in place to assist international exports. However, Dhar says, ‘this has not been properly exploited by companies in India who are happy making money from the country’s internal market at the expense of exports.’

This boom, mainly led by internal consumption, saw the emergence of multilayer flexible plastic packaging using barrier foils for various applications and soon grew up with double digit growth in the sector split into the organised – where companies spend on R&D and create optimised packaging for specific uses, and unorganised – industry people who copy and offer materials at low cost using all kinds of raw materials and machines – even for food packaging. They have both resulted in growth accompanied by problems, but Dhar in particular is impressed by the solutions some of the renowned flexible packaging companies have produced, like micro-perforated films, value added features, optimising films and solutions keeping consumer needs in mind, creating anti-counterfeit features among other solutions.

Climbing the ladder

After Dhar applied for a position at the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) in Delhi, the National Search team found him suitable for a higher role and he was appointed to head IIP as its Director. It was a period when the Institute was riddled with problems with the trade union, including government control and ‘private industry expecting something the Institute could not deliver’, he says, and someone coming from outside the organisation did not sit well with the senior staff, but Dhar continued to reorganise and rekindle the IIP operations.

However, in spite of these obstacles, there was a lot of freedom in his new role. Dhar focused on modernisation of IIP laboratories by installing new test equipment and going for ISO 17025. Through installing new test equipment and machines, improving the quality of services, conducting new courses, establishing a new IIP centre, improving staff salaries and implementing a mindset paradigm shift of distributed leadership, the Institute became profitable over his nine-year tenure, with substantial funds added to its kitty. One of the most important things that brought in the change, according to Dhar, was the delegation that he consciously practised and the trust and confidence he derived from his team.

‘It was the way I managed relationships with industry leaders on the IIP governing body that turned the group into a platform, providing guidance, control and motivation to those in the sector,’ he says.

Although his career was flying high, staying at the IIP would have meant personal upheaval, through moving his joint family to Mumbai, which he was not prepared to do, meaning it was time to look for fresh challenges.

Rajiv decided to take on short-term consultancy assignments for International Trade Centre, Geneva, which were mostly in developing countries. These assignments specific to the packaging sector gave him the opportunity to explore new areas, such as industry research, training and consultancy for a group of people who needed it the most. At a personal level he derived immense satisfaction while working for the developing countries.

An offer was tabled by the AFPPA in 2010, to become its Secretary General, and he was soon leading the Association’s activities and strengthening the organisation.

‘Once again I brought in a new philosophy of working. We enlisted some prominent personalities as advisors in various areas, including the ex-Secretary of The Food Processing Ministry to The Government of India, a director from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to advise on environmental legislation issues, experts with extensive experience in the aseptic industry and a reputed doctor to advise on nutrition and health,’ muses Dhar.

Aseptic solutions

Environmental issues have always been at the heart of Dhar’s work and he found the AFPPA to be a good fit. He says that environmentally “friendly” packaging is not used properly in India and companies and policymakers attach their own meanings to this important subject.

To remain sustainable, he says, ‘I realised that, in food processing and packaging for example, you have to talk in totality and look at the whole mission strategy to address the various issues.’ However, Rajiv believes that the people need to be talking about sustainability, as it gives a better understanding of what is being achieved. He is currently attempting to promote the role of technology in the development of the Indian packaging industry. His effort to promote aseptic Technology is one such action.

‘Aseptic processes and packaging in cartons reduce the burden of packaging costs, it does not need extensive foodchain mechanisms and, in a country like India, where the climate is hot and humid, the quality needs a lot of observation,’ claims Dhar.

With a vague definition for multilayered plastics in the Plastics Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 recently released, inadvertent confusion has been created and many are questioning whether paper based laminates will also fall under the ambit of this order.

An issue arising from the conflicting definitions is that policymakers need to be educated or they will make mistakes and confuse people in the industry. Dhar highlights the aseptic carton – a laminate of paper, aluminium and polyethylene, where paper is the main material – which is called a laminate-plastic.

Rajiv Dhar‘We are fighting for this, as well as making people aware of what is environ mentally “friendly”, which is a big challenge in India,’ he states, ‘Packaging is not bad for the environment, on the contrary, it is helping us contain a lot of losses.’

‘We often say, “A few grammes of packaging is always better than a few kilogrammes of rotten tomatoes”. I think people understand the damage, but it is not being accepted the way it should by policymakers.’