India as gateway to innovations

Gandhinagar in Gujarat served as a fitting venue for Plastindia 2015, India's major exhibition for the plastics industry. The well-designed exhibition venue is a massive and futuristic 125,000 sq.m. space which accommodated around 2000 exhibitors, including the world's and India's leading companies engaged in plastics industry. Over 200,000 visitors registered during the show.

Plastindia 2015 was inaugurated by the Gujarat Chief Minister Shrimati Anandiben Patel and Shri Saurabhbhai Patel Minister for Finance, Petrochemicals, Power, and Tourism Government of Gujarat. Plastindia Foundation reported that Plastindia 2015 has surpassed all their expectations. Besides India, the show saw participation from companies in UK, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Korea etc.

The consumption of plastic is increasing on an average of 10% to 12 % every year in India with consumption projected to reach 20 million metric tonnes by 2020-2021 due to increased usage of different forms of the applications. This positive trend has benefited the show as Plastindia 2015 has witnessed 35% surge in visitor participation and has received an excellent response.

All segments of the plastics industry were represented: polymer producers, compounds and masterbatch suppliers, additives manufacturers, processed plastic products, processing machinery, downstream conversion equipment, moulds & dies, and other service providers.

With more than 60% of India's plastics industry being located in the State of Gujarat, the venue gained support from the biggest players from this sector. Outside India, exhibitors from 40 countries/regions had their country pavilions, such as U.K., France, Australia, Germany, China, Taiwan, etc.

The six-day mega event was highly successful in delivering cutting edge technological developments, equipments and products, with more innovations compared to the previous edition. It also hosted concurrent events which were able to attract the attention of the entire plastics and polymer business community. For instance, the 9th International Conference was held.

The two-day conference was particularly relevant in current context as Indian plastics industry is driving towards specialty products and positioning plastics in innovative applications. Another important event was the 7th Plasticon Awards which handed out 25 different Award Categories, including three new categories for Indian participants and opened up four for international participants. The 26th Asia Plastics Forum, a Meeting of Asian Plastics Federation, was also well-attended with representatives from 12 Asian countries deliberating on issues of sustainability of plastics with special reference to plastics waste and its management; latest recycling technology; marine litter management and regeneration of energy from non-recycled plastics waste.

One addition to this year's exhibition is the Innovation Pavilion. For the first time, all exciting developments in R&D and other innovations in the use of plastics were housed in one special pavilion. This gained the interest of professionals engaged in Research & Development, Science, Inventions and Innovations and specially to Scientist, Technologist and Engineers and Faculty members & students.

Held once in three years, the 9th edition of Plastindia 2015 was the biggest one till date. Even if earlier marred by controversy when it was earlier announced that the venue was at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, the new venue in Gandhinagar in Gujarat was deemed a fitting venue that Plastindia Foundation announced Gandhinagar as the venue for the subsequent exhibition in February 2018.