中文As Indian brand owners face tightening regulations and rising consumer expectations around packaging sustainability, one of the country’s established ink suppliers is making a clear strategic bet: smarter, safer and more sustainable chemistry is the future of print. In a recent interview with The Packman, Shekhar Barua, director of Toyo Ink India, laid out how the company is responding to the shifting demands of the packaging industry through sustainable ink technologies, recyclable structures and locally relevant innovation.
Toyo Ink’s growth in India, Barua explained, has been driven by “innovation, quality, and customer partnership.” The company now runs two manufacturing facilities — in Delhi and Gujarat — enabling efficient service across the country. As a sign of its long-term commitment, Toyo Ink is expanding its liquid inks manufacturing facility in Gujarat to strengthen capacity and support growing demand for sustainable packaging solutions within India and neighbouring countries.
Sustainability is, in Barua’s words, “a key focus area.” The company offers a versatile range of water-based inks for both gravure and flexographic printing, helping reduce VOC emissions and support cleaner processes. Complementing that, its NC- and PVC-free ink solutions let brand owners and converters develop safer, more environmentally responsible packaging “without compromising on print quality, performance, or productivity.”
Food safety is a recurring theme. Toyo Ink provides advanced low-migration and food-safe ink solutions built to meet stringent global packaging standards and regulatory requirements, minimising the risk of ink-component transfer while preserving print consistency. Barua pointed to the company’s LP-VF ink series — NC- and PVC-free — as purpose-built for mono-material and recyclable flexible packaging, supported by advanced barrier coatings that deliver oxygen, moisture and other functional barriers “without compromising product protection or shelf life.”
On the technology mix, Barua sees a gradual shift in the Indian market toward more sustainable options while proven solutions remain essential. Solvent-based inks will stay important for high-performance flexible packaging; water-based inks are set for significant growth on the back of environmental awareness and regulation; and UV-curable inks will keep expanding, particularly in label and specialty printing. The market, he argued, will adopt “a balanced mix of technologies based on application, performance, and sustainability requirements.”
Digital printing, meanwhile, is growing fast for short runs, personalisation and faster turnarounds. But Barua views it as complementary rather than a replacement for gravure and flexo, which will continue to dominate high-volume packaging on cost and productivity grounds. Toyo Ink, he noted, was among the pioneers of wide-format inkjet inks in India and continues to evolve with that segment.
Supply-chain volatility remains a concern across the industry. Barua said Toyo Ink addresses raw-material price swings through a strong global sourcing network, effective inventory planning and a transparent approach to communicating price movements with customers — an openness he argued builds trust and helps navigate fluctuations together.
Efficiency without quality loss is another priority. The Liovalue E-2 PU ink series supports multiple packaging applications through a common platform, simplifying inventory and reducing ink consumption while keeping print quality consistent. And R&D is increasingly local: Toyo Ink India launched aTIC — its artience Technology and Innovation Center — in Bangalore (in partnership with IISc) earlier this year, its first such centre outside Japan.
Barua closed with a line that captures the strategy: “Our inks don’t just shine — they sustain.” For converters navigating the twin pressures of compliance and shelf appeal, that combination of vibrancy and responsibility is precisely the balance the market now demands. The interview also underscores a wider structural shift in the Indian packaging supply chain, where multinational ink makers are localising both production and R&D to shorten lead times, stabilise supply and co-develop formulations with converters rather than simply shipping imported products. As Extended Producer Responsibility rules tighten and major FMCG brands publish recycling targets, the converters that can document low-migration, recyclable-compatible inks will be best positioned to win the most demanding accounts — making Toyo Ink’s localisation bet as much about commercial defence as environmental virtue.
Source: THE PACKMAN (interview with Shekhar Barua, Director, Toyo Ink India), 7 September 2026.
Barua’s comments land against a backdrop of tightening Indian regulation. Extended Producer Responsibility frameworks and plastic-waste rules are pushing brands toward mono-material and recyclable structures, which in turn demand inks that do not compromise those recycling streams. For converters, that means the ink choice is no longer purely a print-quality decision — it is a compliance decision with downstream consequences for their customers’ sustainability claims.
The localisation of both manufacturing and R&D is therefore as much commercial defence as environmental virtue. By expanding the Gujarat liquid-inks site and standing up the aTIC centre in Bangalore, Toyo Ink is shortening lead times and bringing formulation expertise closer to the converters who need it, rather than shipping finished products and generic advice from abroad. That matters in a market where raw-material volatility and import logistics can make or break a converter’s margins. As major Indian FMCG and pharma brands publish recycling and emission targets, the suppliers that can document low-migration, recyclable-compatible, locally supported inks will be best placed to win the most demanding accounts — and Barua’s interview makes clear that is exactly the position Toyo Ink intends to occupy.
