Sapan Bakliwal is the Whole-time Director of Udaan Paper Industries Limited and the driving force behind the company's strategic transformation into a growth-focused corrugated packaging enterprise. With extensive experience in manufacturing, business development, and industrial operations, he has played a pivotal role in expanding Udaan's presence within India's organised packaging sector.
Under his leadership, the company has strengthened its manufacturing capabilities, expanded its operational footprint across key industrial regions, and established long-term relationships with leading FMCG and consumer brands. His vision centres on building scalable manufacturing businesses that support India's growing consumption economy while maintaining a strong focus on operational excellence, quality, and sustainable growth.
As an industry leader, he actively tracks trends across manufacturing, packaging, logistics, supply chains, and consumer markets, positioning packaging as a critical enabler of India's industrial and economic development.
Q1. As one of the key leaders driving Udaan Paper Industries' transformation, what has been your vision for the company, and what milestones have defined its growth journey so far?
From day one, our vision was never limited to becoming just another corrugated box manufacturer so building an automated packaging platform that could support India's evolving supply chains and growing consumption economy and the packaging is a critical link between manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and end consumers, and also the goal has always been to strengthen that link through scale, quality, and reliability.
We believe that one of the best significant milestones in our journey has been the successful development and stabilization of our automated manufacturing facilities at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and these facilities have empowered us to serve customers across key industrial regions while maintaining consistency in quality and operational efficiency.
And also built long-term relationships with leading FMCG, food processing, textile, consumer goods companies, growth has been driven by a strong focus on automation, manufacturing excellence, timely deliveries, and customer trust. Today, we believe ourselves not just as a packaging manufacturer as well as a partner that helps businesses move products efficiently through the supply chain.
Q2. India's consumer economy is expanding rapidly. How are changing consumption patterns across FMCG, retail, and e-commerce influencing demand within the packaging industry?
The growth of India's consumer economy is directly influencing the packaging sector. Every FMCG product, online order, food item, beverage, or consumer goods and in the end requires reliable packaging before reaching the customer. As consumption increases, the demand for quality packaging naturally grows alongside it.
The rapid growth of e-commerce, organised retail, and branded consumer goods has significantly increased the demand for durable, customised, and scalable packaging solutions and also the business market today needs packaging that not only protects products even as it improves logistics efficiency, optimises storage, and enhances the overall customer experience.
Corrugated packaging is really important in today's supply chains, providing strength, flexibility and sustainability. As India's consumption economy keeps growing, corrugated packaging plays a role in helping businesses move products safely and efficiently across the country and allows them to transport products on a scale.
Q3. Sustainability and operational efficiency are becoming major priorities for businesses. How is Udaan helping brands meet these expectations while maintaining quality and scalability?
Sustainability and operational efficiency are really important now. They are no longer things that businesses can ignore. At Udaan the approach to packaging solutions is very simple. They want to make sure that the packaging is recyclable and reusable when possible. This is because people are looking for alternatives and Udaan wants to meet this demand. Sustainability is a part of what Udaan does with packaging solutions. They know that sustainability is essential for businesses today.
Corrugated packaging supports the shift towards sustainable and environmentally responsible solutions due to its recyclability and combined with our automated facilities in Pithampur and Kanpur, strong quality controls, and reliable logistics, help businesses achieve both sustainability goals and operational efficiency at scale.
Q4. Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see for India's manufacturing and packaging sectors, and how do you envision Udaan contributing to the country's industrial growth story over the next decade?
India is entering a very exciting phase of industrial and economic development. Government programs focused on manufacturing growth, infrastructure development, supply-chain modernization and the Make in India vision are creating significant opportunities across sectors and for the packaging industry, key growth drivers will include expanding FMCG consumption and continued rise of e-commerce, increasing demand for sustainable packaging, and the gradual transition from plastic-based packaging to paper-based and recyclable alternatives also witnessing a broader shift from unorganised manufacturing towards organised, technology-driven players capable of delivering quality at scale.
Udaan's vision is to build an automated packaging platform with manufacturing capabilities across several regions of India and with the help of supporting manufacturers, strengthening supply chains, creating employment, and delivering sustainable packaging solutions also aim to grow alongside India's manufacturing and consumption journey while contributing to the country's long-term economic growth.