“Young machine manufacturers have decided to manufacture these machines here in India. This will be a breakthrough for us in India if it is done successfully,” said Sushant Gaur.

Adeera Packaging, is India’s largest manufacturer of paper bags and paper pouches, giving consumers an option to patronise environment-friendly packaging over plastic.  

The company began as a proprietorship firm called Urja Packaging in 2012. It later became Adeera Packaging, which is now an aggregator of co-owned paper bag manufacturing companies. In 2019, Sushant Gaur, Chief Executive Officer, Adeera Packaging, decided to partner with the company’s largest customer. “Now, we have three co-founders and we do around 15 paper bags per second, every single day,” said Gaur.

Earlier, most paper making machinery came from either China or Germany, but the pandemic brought on supply chain issues for the paper packaging industry. “Young machine manufacturers have decided to manufacture these machines here in India. This will be a breakthrough for us in India if it is done successfully,” said Sushant Gaur, adding, “We have seen a lot of investors interested in this industry.”   The company’s mission is to adhere to the core values of quality, eco-friendliness and hard work while providing quality products to clients at affordable prices. Gaur is optimistic about Adeera Packaging’s ability to dominate the Indian market without having to compromise on the quality of the product or service.

Food packaging with Kraft paper is a fast-growing business. Kraft paper is more durable, recyclable, and re-usable. It is waterproof and oil-resistant packaging, which makes cold and raw food distribution convenient.

Adeera Packaging is a pioneer in the production of Kraft paper and in promoting its adoption in food packaging over normal paper packaging used by kirana (grocery) stores, dhabas and other food delivery joints. Gaur explained that the conventional food packaging material was mostly industrially processed stock lot paper which had traces of dye and chemical ink, which could easily percolate into food and through it into the human body.   Gaur believes that the company’s human resources department had played a key role in the company’s success during the pandemic. The Adeera Packaging Human Resources team tweaked company policies to prioritise the overall well-being of employees. “We ensured the safety and wellbeing of our employees by taking care of vaccination, and health insurance. The company also tried to create openings for those who lost their jobs,” said Gaur.

Is there any change in people mindset, especially post pandemic, we asked. “Yes, there is! It is towards environment-friendliness and sustainability. This will add immensely to the continuously rising demand for paper bags,” said Gaur enthusiastically.

Adeera Packaging has changed its business model to capitalise on changing consumer behavioural patterns and the sudden uptick in ecommerce. Gaur considers the change a huge opportunity for the company, which has been able to ensure a growth in manufacturing of paper bags.  

Gaur was delighted to receive the BW Businessworld Young Entrepreneur Award. With his venture, He plans to build a supply chain of paper bag   manufacturers. Since paper bags replace plastic, Adeera Packaging’s growth plans are in step with the growing awareness of the need to preserve the ecology, which no doubt will prove a recipe for success.   

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