'India is hot property for retail'

Friday, 09 November 2007, 20:30 IST
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New Delhi: Swedish packaging paper firm Billerud AB wants to cash in on India's growth in retail and medical packaging sectors, says the company's CEO Per Lindberg. "India is now becoming hot property for retail. This industry is going to throw up a host of opportunities for us in terms of high-quality packaging. We do not intend to make greenfield investments here. We are looking to tie up with the top players," Lindberg told IANS. "We held fruitful discussions with some leading players in the paper industry. Hopefully, we would be launching our products by the second quarter of next year," he added. Citing reasons why the firm has chosen to invest in India, Lindberg said: "In India, producers are very skilled with tremendous knowledge and expertise. But India's share is a meagre two percent of the global paper production, so in terms of market, it offers huge potential." The $1.2 billion company is a global supplier of materials to the packaging market, with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tonnes. "Our packaging solutions are safe and environment-friendly. Our grades are used for syringes that need a special type of packaging to avoid contamination and leakages." "Our main objective (here) is to transform and introduce concepts of high-grade paper. We produce pulp that is needed to produce high-quality packaging material," he highlighted. The Stockholm-based company has 11 sales offices, seven of which are in Europe. It has over 2,400 employees.
Source: IANS