ITC and clean-label rivals bet on advanced packaging to preserve preservative-free snacks
Indian FMCG players including ITC, Khetika and Akshayakalpa are lifting packaging R&D ~50% to keep clean-label, preservative-free snacks fresh as better-for-you products cross 30% of packaged food spend. Premium formats command 1.5-2x demand, but packaging adds 30-60% per-unit cost, testing margins.
Indian food and FMCG companies including ITC, Khetika and Akshayakalpa are boosting packaging investment to keep preservative-free, clean-label products fresh, driven by rising healthy-snacking demand and premium shelf appeal across modern trade and Flipkart.
Why this matters
Extends ITC's clean-label packaging strategy, where packaging becomes the new preservative for D2C snacking. Comes as ITC trades near 52-week highs while retail peers like Future Retail slide to fresh lows.
Retail-brand theme accelerating at +308900% QoQ.