Page 13 - Plastics News August 2026

AIPMA AT WORK

She highlighted the enormous scale of India's MSME sector, comprising around 9 crore enterprises
and providing employment to approximately 40 crore people, with MSMEs accounting for around
48% of India's exports. She also highlighted initiatives such as Zero Effect Zero Defect manufacturing,
MSME innovation schemes and access to around 700 host institutions, including IITs and IIMs, for
services relating to innovation, incubation, intellectual property, trademarks and registrations. She
noted that approximately 99% of India's MSMEs fall in the micro-enterprise category, underscoring the
importance of targeted support to enable smaller enterprises to participate in India's export growth.

President's Address – Mr. Sunil Shah

Mr. Sunil Shah, President, AIPMA, was not able to attend personally and addressed the gathering
online. He welcomed the delegates and emphasised that the choice of Lucknow was deliberate.
Uttar Pradesh has a large and growing ecosystem of plastics converters, packaging companies,
compounders, manufacturers and MSMEs, and therefore represents an important part of India's future
export story. He noted that while India's plastics industry has traditionally focused on its huge domestic
market, the global market for finished plastic products presents an enormous untapped opportunity.
India's share of this market remains only around 1%. Indian converters are already supplying leading
automobile, FMCG, consumer goods, electronics and telecom companies and are capable of meeting
stringent international quality requirements. The next step is therefore to move from “Made for India”
to “Made for the World.”

Shri Sunil Shah, President’s Online address

Mr. Shah highlighted the opportunities emerging from India's FTAs and stressed that exporters need to
understand target markets, product demand, tariffs, rules of origin, certifications, quality requirements,
pricing and buyer identification. He emphasised that MSMEs can leverage their flexibility, provided it
is combined with quality, consistency, sustainability, certification and timely delivery. He highlighted
AIPMA's Plastiworld initiative, which directly connects Indian plastics manufacturers with international

August 2026 PLASTICS NEWS 13