1800 exhibitors from 44 countries attract 246 000 visitors to 10th Plastindia 2018

A thumbs-up to plastic innovators, an enriching International Conference, a first-of-its-kind Reverse Buyer-Seller Meet and an encouraging Stall Awards summed up the magnificence of the 10th edition of PLASTINDIA 2018. The colossal meet of stakeholders of the plastics industry set several benchmarks on a single platform, with 550 overseas participants from the 1800 exhibitors.

The invigorating 2-day International Conference showcased future technologies ready for commercialisation today - Low cost pocket ventilator; bionic arm for amputees; footwear that can see! The conference brought to fore more such innovations based on plastics especially in Automotives, Healthcare, Sports & Equipment, Recycling, 3-D Printing and Composites.

21 exhibitors won the Best Stall Awards. There were 4 product groups - Raw Materials and Additives, Semi-Finished and Finished Products (PROPLAST), Primary Processing Machinery as well as Auxiliary and Ancillary Equipment - under which the awards were given out.

The signature Reverse Buyer-Seller Meet at PLASTINDIA 2018 saw nearly 500 buyers connecting with 535 registered sellers in over 1200 meetings.

"PLASTINDIA 2018 has been unique and unparalleled. It has set new records. We initiated visitor's participation. To the best of our knowledge, the average footfall of more than 40,000 per day is the highest in any plastics exhibition held till date anywhere in the world. We organised a Global CEO Meet to discuss what future holds for the industry. A meeting of all associations to discuss sustainability and recycling and a roundtable on challenges of workforce development for the Indian plastics industry were organized to ensure a bigger role of the plastics industry in innovative, inclusive and sustainable growth of our nation and its citizens. The overwhelming support of exhibitors and visitors has created new records and has laid a foundation of an even bigger and better PLASTINDIA 2021 Exhibition," said Shri K.K. Seksaria, President, Plastindia Foundation.

Another important focus was the reuse and intelligent recycling of plastics. The industry pledged to raise recycling with consumption slated to touch 20MT/year by 2020. It is reported that 62 million tons of waste is generated annually in the country and out of that, around 5.6 million tons is plastic waste. It is imperative hence, to work on innovation and aim for less than 1% of the plastic waste going to the landfills. PLASTINDIA this year displayed technology to empower and convert "Waste to Fuel".

"On behalf of NEC, I thank all the exhibitors, visitors of PLASTINDIA 2018 and all committee members. PLASTINDIA 2018 has empowered growth. We are also conscious of the effect of plastics on the environment. Plastics is a wonder product and all associations under our wing got together to discuss sustainability and recyclability," said Shri Rajeev Chitalia, Chairman, National Executive Council, PLASTINDIA 2018.

PLASTINDIA 2018 was blessed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu who joined in digitally.

The Plastindia exhibition was inaugurated by Shri Vijaybhai Rupani, Chief Minister, Gujarat, in the presence of Dr. J N Singh, Chief Secretary, Gujarat, Shri Avinash Joshi, MD, OPAL Shri Parindu K Bhagat, Ind. Director, IOCL and Pujya Bhai Shri Ramesh Oza, Founder, Sandipani Vidyaniketan and a Hindu spiritual leader at Gandhinagar.

Innovation-led pavilions were a key highlight at the 10th PLASTINDIA. These were dedicated to uphold advancements in Geotextiles, Composites and Packaging with a stress on the "Save Food Pavilion." A Solar Pavilion was introduced for the very first time.

Incidentally, India is the 7th largest manufacturing base in the world and is expected to have 464 million youth population by 2021. Nearly $2 trillion is the expected infrastructure expenditure with nearly 90 million jobs expected to be created in the next decade. For a sector registering a 12% growth rate, there are 30,000 processing units, 4 million jobs and over 2000 exporters involved. About 4MT of plastics are recycled per annum. Over 150 countries import from India.

The organizers are looking forward to breaking all records and hope to introduce and showcase new innovations and technology at PLASTINDIA 2021.