FMCG cos repackage to meet new norms

In compliance with the government’s new guidelines for standard pack sizes, major FMCG like Parle Products, ITC Foods and Britannia Industries are changing their packaging strategy, which will also see a revision in prices of some products.

Parle, the maker of Parle-G biscuits, has revamped the packaging strategy for its entire portfolio of biscuits with price revisions for its premium brands such as Hide & Seek. While ITC Foods has made the required changes for its biscuit packs, Britannia has made a slew of changes in its product pack configurations across the portfolio of biscuits, breads, rusks and dairy products.

Similarly, PepsiCo India has also complied with the new standard pack size regulations while Kolkata-based Duncan Tea has recently revamped the packaging of its 50-g packs of tea.

As per the government’s new law, FMCG companies cannot sell 19 product categories in current unconventional, arbitrary pack sizes like 65, 73, 85, 92, 175, 425 (grams/millilitre). Instead, all such products will have to be sold in standard pack sizes like 25, 50, 100 and multiples of 100 units (g/ml). It is mandatory for FMCG firms to follow the standard pack sizes from November 2012.

“As family packs have to be in line with small packs in our portfolio, we have revamped the packaging strategy for all our biscuit brands. We are in the process of rolling out our new biscuit packs across the country,” said Praveen Kulkarni, general manager,

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