Packaging companies in India: list, types and how to choose

The quick answer

Packaging companies in India are a large, scattered industry. A few listed groups make films, laminates, tubes and cartons for national brands, and many thousands of small units make corrugated boxes, pouches, labels, tapes and printed cartons for the businesses around them. There is no single official directory of all of them. In Starleads' data there are 64,524 packaging and printing businesses in 29 states and 279 cities (count on 29 October 2026), and Maharashtra alone has 25,185 of them.

This guide is for two kinds of reader. Brands, manufacturers, exporters and online sellers want a list of packaging companies so they can find a supplier for boxes, pouches or labels and check it before they order. And businesses that sell to packaging units (kraft paper and board mills, ink and adhesive makers, machine builders, recyclers) want to reach them as customers. It explains the main types of packaging company, where they are, the rules that decide what a packaging supplier must comply with (FSSAI for food contact, plastic EPR, GST rates), how to choose a supplier step by step, and how to approach these firms within TRAI's rules. The Starleads figures are counts of contacts in Starleads' data, not an official census, and the official sources were read on 29 October 2026.

Types of packaging companies, and what to ask each one

People search for "packaging companies", "packaging material suppliers" and "printing and packaging companies" as if they were one trade. They are several trades with different machines, raw materials and rules. A corrugated box plant in Bhosari, a flexible packaging converter in Daman and a label printer in Andheri East all call themselves packaging companies, but you would never send them the same enquiry.

Type	What it makes	Typical buyers	What to ask for
Corrugated box and carton makers	Shipping boxes, cartons and sheets, usually 3, 5 or 7 ply, plain or printed	Factories, FMCG and pharma brands, exporters, ecommerce sellers	Board grade (GSM and bursting factor), ply, printing colours, minimum order, whether the box is meant for food contact
Flexible packaging converters	Printed and laminated films, pouches, sachets, rollstock for form-fill-seal machines	Snacks, spices, tea, detergents, personal care	Laminate structure, barrier needs, cylinder cost and who owns the cylinders, food-grade test report, EPR category of the plastic
Folding carton and mono-carton printers	Printed paperboard boxes for medicines, cosmetics, sweets and electronics	Pharma, cosmetics, sweet shops, consumer electronics	Board type, offset or flexo printing, foil and lamination, artwork approval and colour proofs
Rigid plastic packaging makers	Bottles, jars, caps, containers, crates	Edible oil, dairy, agro-chemicals, lubricants, personal care	Polymer and grade, the IS standard it meets for food contact, mould ownership, EPR registration
Labels, stickers and tapes	Self-adhesive labels, barcode and shrink sleeves, BOPP tapes	Every manufacturer, warehouses, ecommerce	Label stock and adhesive, roll size for your applicator, printing of variable data
Wooden and industrial packaging	Pallets, crates, packing cases, export packing with fumigation	Machinery makers, exporters, heavy engineering	Wood treatment for export, load rating, packing at your site or theirs
Packaging material traders	Stretch film, bubble wrap, tapes, boxes and pouches bought from makers and sold in small lots	Shops, small manufacturers, online sellers	Stock on hand, delivery within the city, GST invoice
Packaging machine makers	Filling, sealing, strapping, shrink and carton machines	Packaging units and brands that pack in-house	Speed, change parts, service engineers near you, spares

Many small firms do two or three of these at once. A unit in Makarpura in Vadodara may print cartons, trade tapes and supply corrugated boxes from a partner plant. Ask which products it makes on its own machines and which it buys in, because that decides price, lead time and who answers when something goes wrong.

Where packaging companies are: Starleads' counts

Packaging units sit close to the factories and brands they supply, so the map follows India's manufacturing and printing hubs. Starleads' all-India packaging and printing list has 64,524 contacts; 88% have a mobile number and 63% an email address. The three biggest states hold 65% of them.

Place	Contacts in Starleads' data	What the list page shows
Maharashtra	25,185	The largest state list, in 42 cities and towns; most in Mumbai, Pune and Thane
Mumbai	19,269	The largest city list; most in Andheri East (617), Fort (345) and Malad West (302); 89% with a mobile number
Delhi	10,990	The second-largest state list; 87% name the contact person
Bengaluru	5,609	Most in Rajajinagar (153), Sultanpet (125) and Peenya Industrial Area (76); 98% with a mobile number
Gujarat	4,634	38 cities and towns; most in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat
Pune	4,157	Most in Shaniwar Peth (150) and Sadashiv Peth (118) in the old city, and industrial Bhosari (112)
Chennai	2,174	93% with an email address, the highest share of these cities
Ahmedabad	1,851	40% of Gujarat's list; 112 filed under packaging materials
Vadodara	1,157	Most in Makarpura (72), Ajwa Road (33) and Raopura (28)

The figures are counts of contacts in Starleads' data on 29 October 2026, not an official census of the industry. They lean towards the big cities, where business directories have more listings; a packaging cluster in a smaller industrial town can be busier than its count suggests.

Live figures: our Packaging & Printing list has 64,524 contacts in 279 cities. 77% of rows name the contact person, 88% have a mobile number and 63% an email address. Most contacts are in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai, and you can buy one of 20 cities instead of all of India.

Packaging and printing contacts by city

• Mumbai 19,269 contacts · 51% email · 89% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 5,609 contacts · 54% email · 98% mobile ₹499
• Pune 4,157 contacts · 64% email · 92% mobile ₹499
• Chennai 2,174 contacts · 93% email · 79% mobile ₹499
• Ahmedabad 1,851 contacts · 84% email · 93% mobile ₹499
• Noida 1,778 contacts · 79% email · 89% mobile ₹499
• Jaipur 1,535 contacts · 46% email · 93% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 1,447 contacts · 95% email · 76% mobile ₹499
• Kolkata 1,380 contacts · 95% email · 75% mobile ₹499
• Vadodara 1,157 contacts · 57% email · 82% mobile ₹499
• Gurugram 1,097 contacts · 77% email · 91% mobile ₹499
• New Delhi 896 contacts · 87% email · 27% mobile ₹499

Related lists

• Packaging & Printing 64,524 contacts · 63% email · 88% mobile ₹1,999
• Plastic Products & Plasticware Dealers 29,361 contacts · 48% email · 84% mobile ₹1,999
• Industrial Machinery & Equipment 87,958 contacts · 40% email · 81% mobile ₹1,999

Two narrower lists help when you want makers rather than printers: 1,301 contacts filed under packaging materials, 97% with a mobile number, and 699 packaging machine makers and dealers, 516 of them in Maharashtra. For plastic containers and plasticware there is a separate list of 29,361 plastic products dealers.

The rules a packaging supplier must follow

Most "top 10 packaging companies" pages skip the rules, but they decide whether a supplier is usable at all. Three sets matter most to buyers in India.

Food contact: the FSSAI Packaging Regulations. The Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018 (FSSAI's compendium, version of 1 June 2022) set what may touch food. Food businesses had to comply by 1 July 2019. Among the general requirements:

• Printing inks for food packages must conform to IS 15495, and the printed surface must not come into direct contact with food.
• Newspaper or similar material must not be used to store or wrap food.
• In multilayer packaging, the layer that touches food must meet the materials listed in the regulations' Schedules I, II and III.
• Every food business operator must obtain a certificate of conformity from an NABL-accredited laboratory for the packaging material that comes in direct contact with food.
• Paper and board in contact with food must be food grade and meet one of the Indian Standards in Schedule I; the list includes IS 2771 (Part 1) for corrugated fibreboard boxes, IS 1776 for uncoated folding box board and IS 6622 for greaseproof paper. Plastics in contact with food are tied to standards such as IS 10146 for polyethylene and IS 10910 for polypropylene, and pigments to IS 9833.
• Recycled plastics: the original rule barred them for food; the substituted text, operationalised from 18 January 2022, allows them only "as and when standards and guidelines are framed by the Food Authority".

So a snack maker should not accept a quotation for "food-grade pouches" without the laboratory report for the laminate's food-contact layer, and a sweet shop should ask its carton printer which board standard the box meets.

Plastic packaging: extended producer responsibility (EPR). The EPR guidelines were notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 16 February 2022 through an amendment to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, according to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's FAQ on EPR registration. The FAQ says:

Question	What the MPCB FAQ says
Who registers on CPCB's centralised portal	Producers, importers and brand owners (PIBOs), and plastic waste processors engaged in recycling, waste to energy, waste to oil and industrial composting
Where to register	PIBOs operating in one or two states or UTs register with that State Pollution Control Board or Committee; those in more than two register with CPCB
Packaging categories	I: rigid plastic packaging; II: flexible single or multilayer plastic, sheets, carry bags, sachets and pouches; III: multilayered packaging with at least one plastic and one non-plastic layer; IV: plastic sheet used for packaging and compostable carry bags
KYC documents	Company PAN, CIN and GST, and the authorised person's PAN and Aadhaar; proprietorships and partnerships give PAN and GST
Application fee for PIBOs	Rs 10,000 below 1,000 tonnes a year of plastic waste, Rs 20,000 for 1,000 to 10,000, Rs 50,000 above; renewal at the same fee, plus an annual processing fee of 25% of the application fee
Brand owners	A note says brand owners include online platforms and marketplaces and supermarkets and retail chains, other than micro and small enterprises under the MSME criteria, and refers to sections 3 and 4 of the guidelines for details

For a buyer this has two consequences. A brand that puts plastic packaging on the market may itself be a PIBO with EPR targets, so it needs to know the category and weight of every pouch and bottle it buys. And a plastic packaging maker should be able to show its own EPR registration. Ask for both in your supplier form. Fees and targets change with amendments, so check the current guidelines on CPCB's EPR portal before you file.

GST on boxes and paper. The GST Council's 56th meeting (PIB release of 3 September 2025, as published by the GST Council) recommended rate changes for goods from 22 September 2025 that matter to packaging:

Item (HS code)	Change recommended
Cartons, boxes and cases of corrugated or non-corrugated paper or paperboard (4819 10, 4819 20)	12% to 5%
Paper sacks and biodegradable bags; paper pulp moulded trays (4823)	12% to 5%
Wooden packing cases, crates, drums, pallets and box pallets (4415)	12% to 5%
Uncoated kraft paper and paperboard (4804); corrugated paper and paperboard in rolls or sheets (4808); composite paperboard (4807)	12% to 18%

The result is that a finished corrugated box now carries a lower rate than the kraft paper it is made from, which affects a box maker's input tax credit and pricing. Confirm the rate on the current notification for your exact product before you quote or pay, and ask your supplier which HS code it bills under. Starleads' own prices are plus 18% GST.

How to choose a packaging supplier, step by step

1. Write a one-page specification. Product, size and weight, how it travels (courier, truck, container), shelf life, whether the packaging touches food or medicine, print colours, and monthly quantity. Without it, quotations from different packaging companies cannot be compared.
2. Pick the right type of supplier. Use the table above. A corrugated box plant will not quote sensibly for a laminated pouch, and a trader will rarely match a manufacturer's price at volume, though it may beat it on small lots and fast delivery.
3. Build a long list of 20 to 40 names near you. Freight can be a large share of the cost of bulky packaging such as boxes, so start within your city or state. Use the city lists above, trade fairs, your industry association and the makers your peers use. Our guide to manufacturing company lists explains how to work through a list like this.
4. Check each company before you call. Look up its GSTIN and, for a company or LLP, its MCA record (our company search guide shows how), and its Udyam registration if it claims MSME status. For plastics, ask for the EPR registration number; for food contact, the NABL laboratory report.
5. Ask five to eight for quotations on the same specification, with price per piece at two quantities, one-time costs (printing plates, cylinders, dies, moulds) and who owns them, lead time, payment terms, freight, and GST rate and HS code.
6. Order samples and test them. Drop and compression tests for boxes, seal strength and leakage for pouches, colour against your approved proof. Send a few sample shipments through your real courier route.
7. Visit the plant of your top two. See the machines that make your product, the raw material stock and how rejects are handled. A visit tells you more than any brochure.
8. Start with a trial order and a written agreement. Put the specification, tolerances, rejection and replacement terms, delivery schedule, and price-revision formula (paper and polymer prices move) in writing. Our guide to vendor registration covers the forms large buyers ask suppliers to fill in.
9. Keep a second supplier. Packaging shortages stop production lines. A second approved source for your highest-volume item is cheap insurance.

Selling to packaging companies

Packaging units are customers as well as suppliers. Starleads' list page notes that paper and board mills, ink and machine suppliers, and brands looking for packaging vendors use the list. A typical unit spends on:

• Raw material: kraft paper and duplex board, films and resins, inks, adhesives, varnishes and laminates.
• Machines and spares: corrugators, printers, die-cutters, pouch-making and lamination machines, and the service contracts that keep them running.
• Cylinders, plates and dies from engravers and die makers.
• Testing and compliance: laboratory tests for food contact, EPR registration help and recyclers who issue EPR certificates.
• Software and services: costing and estimating software, ERP, transport and warehousing.

In a small unit the owner decides almost everything, often from the shop floor; in larger ones, purchase decides raw material and the plant head decides machines. A first approach by email, followed by a call to those who reply, works better than cold calling at random. For example: "Hello Mr Shah, we supply 120 to 180 GSM kraft paper to box makers in Vadodara and Ahmedabad from stock in Makarpura. Could I send you this week's price list and a sample reel?" To reach buying staff directly, see our guide to purchase manager contacts.

Calls and messages to packaging businesses must follow TRAI's rules even though the person you contact is a business owner:

• The DND register (NCPR). A subscriber can register a preference against commercial calls and SMS by calling or sending an SMS to 1909, through an IVR, an approved app or a web portal, according to TRAI's preference registration page. Check numbers before a campaign; our DND check guide shows how.
• DLT registration for SMS. TRAI's advice to senders says every commercial communication is carried through registered headers, principal entities must register their content templates, and consent must be acquired through a registered consent template; failing any step means the messages will not go. Our DLT registration guide takes you through it.
• Opt-outs. Stop contacting anyone who asks you to, and keep a record. For email, authenticate your domain and include an unsubscribe link.

Our cold calling tips give you wording for the calls that follow.

Where Starleads' data falls short

Know what a contact list can and cannot tell you before you rely on it:

• Printers and packaging makers are mixed. The list is "Packaging & Printing", and printing is a large part of it: by category, the biggest groups in the all-India list are Packaging & Printing (4,225), Offset Printing (4,124) and Printing Services (2,240). If you want only box or pouch makers, filter by category and business name, or start from the narrower packaging materials list.
• Some rows are misfiled. The all-India sample includes a packers and movers firm and a jeweller among the packaging and printing businesses. Look at the 60 free sample rows and filter the Excel file before you start calling.
• No product or capacity details. The list does not say what a unit makes, which machines it runs, its capacity or its certifications. You learn that on the call and the plant visit.
• No compliance status. It does not show EPR registration, food-contact test reports or GST filing status. Check those yourself, as described above.
• Uneven coverage. Among the cities above, email coverage ranges from 51% in Mumbai to 93% in Chennai, and big cities dominate. Smaller clusters are thinner than their real size.
• Not a ranking. A list tells you who exists and how to reach them, not who is good. Samples, a plant visit and a trial order tell you that.

A state or city list costs ₹499 and the all-India packaging and printing file ₹1,999, plus 18% GST, with 60 contacts free to check first. The list builder lets you combine packaging with, say, food processing and FMCG companies (18,029 contacts) if you sell to both sides.

Questions people ask

Which are the top packaging companies in India?

There is no official ranking. Pages that list the "top 10" or "top 50" packaging companies usually pick large listed groups in flexible packaging, films, tubes and glass, and stock-market pages list packaging shares by market value. For a buyer, the "top" packaging company is the one that makes your type of pack on its own machines, near you, at your volume, with the compliance papers you need. Use the step-by-step section above to find it.

How many packaging companies are there in India?

No official census counts them all. Starleads' data has 64,524 packaging and printing businesses with contact details in 29 states and 279 cities, on 29 October 2026. That includes printers, so the number of units that make packaging is lower; and small units without directory listings are not in it.

How do I find food packaging companies?

Start with makers of the pack type you need (pouches, cartons, rigid containers) and ask each for the NABL laboratory certificate of conformity for the food-contact material, as the FSSAI Packaging Regulations require of food businesses. Check that inks conform to IS 15495 and that the printed surface does not touch the food.

What are flexible packaging companies?

Converters that print and laminate plastic films, foils and paper into pouches, sachets and rollstock. Under the EPR guidelines, single or multilayer flexible plastic is Category II and multilayer packaging with a non-plastic layer is Category III, so a flexible packaging supplier should tell you which category each pack falls in.

What is the GST rate on corrugated boxes?

The GST Council's 56th meeting recommended moving cartons, boxes and cases of corrugated or non-corrugated paper or paperboard (HS 4819 10 and 4819 20) from 12% to 5% from 22 September 2025, while kraft paper and corrugated board in rolls or sheets moved from 12% to 18%. Check the rate notification in force when you invoice.

Do packaging companies need EPR registration?

Producers, importers and brand owners of plastic packaging register on CPCB's centralised EPR portal, or with their State Pollution Control Board if they operate in only one or two states. Plastic waste processors register too. A paper box maker that uses no plastic packaging is outside the plastic EPR rules, but check whether you laminate or line your boxes.

Where can I get a list of packaging companies with contact details?

Industry associations, trade fair exhibitor lists and B2B marketplaces give partial lists. Starleads sells the all-India packaging and printing list in Excel, with state and city lists such as Delhi and Mumbai, and a free 60-contact sample for each. If you sell to manufacturers more widely, see our guide to FMCG company lists.