Flour mills to mega deals: How Manjushree morphed into a packaging giant

A visit to a Tata Tea garden in the region sowed the seed of the idea of plastic packaging in the mind of Kedia and his brothers

The journey of Manjushree Technopack — from owning flour mills in Tinsukia, Assam, to becoming a dominant force in India's rigid plastic packaging industry — caps a remarkable story of adaptation, innovation and strategic vision.

 

Last week, US private equity firm Advent International signed a deal to sell MTL to Hong Kong-based PAG for nearly $1 billion. Currently, Advent holds a 97 per cent stake in Manjushree, while the remaining 3 per cent is held by other public shareholders.

 

This was PAG’s biggest transaction in India till date, underscoring the company's growth potential in the country’s booming packaging industry, which is expanding at an impressive rate of 7 per cent annually.

 

To understand MTL’s stellar rise, one needs to go back to 1977, when owner Vimal Kedia’s family-run flour mills in Tinsukia was sold off to pay off creditors. Three years later, he set up an umbrella manufacturing unit in Guwahati that did brisk business. It would soon go on to become one of the top three players in the Northeast.

 

A visit to a Tata Tea garden in the region sowed the seeds for the plastic packaging business in Kedia’s mind. 

 

The family initially started the business by transporting plastic from Kolkata in 1983. MTL commenced operations in 1987. By the mid-1990s, it was printing around 500 tonnes of polythene per annum, the growth potential in East and North-East markets was minimal, compelling the brothers to diversify into other regions.

 

It was during this time when the Karnataka government invited players to set up units in the state.

 

This resulted in the Kedia family shifting their base to Bengaluru in 1995. From packaging tea manufacturers and mineral water bottle companies, MTL graduated to PET bottles (Polyethylene terephthalate) and started supplying to cola companies too.

 

At present, MTL's customer base includes industry majors like Reckitt Benckiser (India), P&G, ITC, Bisleri, Dabur India, Mondelez India Foods, Britannia, Castrol, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, and PepsiCo India.

 

The company's growth journey in the last two decades can be captured by looking at the fact that from a mere revenue of Rs 60 crore per year in 2006, its revenue was seen at Rs 2,096 crore in FY23, versus Rs 1,266 crore by the nearest competitor Alpla. This further increased to Rs 2,117 crore in FY24.

 

In the organised Indian consumer RPP market, the large players accounted for approximately 30 per cent of the market share, out of which MTL leads with 8.8 per cent in FY24, while the nearest competitor Alpla holds a market share of 4.5 per cent only. The next five prominent players, including TPAC, Chemco, Mold Tek, SSF Plastics, and National Polyplast, collectively account for 11.6 per cent of the market. It also has a manufacturing capacity of 213,000 metric tonnes through 23 units, versus 117,000 MT by Alpla. 

 

In October 2018, Advent invested in Manjushree and acquired a 40 per cent stake from Kedaara Capital, valuing the company at Rs 2,440 crore.

 

Later that year, it acquired a stake from the promoter family.

 

Since then, the industry major has made several acquisitions like the business of manufacturing, marketing, and distributing sprayers, pumps, dispensers, and triggers from National Plastics in 2019, the B2B business of Pearl Polymers in 2021, Classy Kontainers, and Hitesh Plastics.

 

With Advent paving the way for PAG, and the Indian market seeing a boom, MTL's growth journey is expected to continue.