[India] Containing The Excitement - India Poised For Packaging Glass Boom?

With a population of 1,180M and a food and beverage industry that accounts for over 40% of total consumer spending, India represents a land of opportunity for container glass manufacturers. Following a series of reforms in the early 1990s, India has witnessed tremendous economic progress. Its GDP growth clocked an impressive 5.8% between 1995-2000, and 6.8% between 2000-2005. In 2008, GDP stood at 9.0%. The figure for 2009 is estimated somewhere between 6.9-7.8% - which isn't bad, when we are staring down the barrel of the second worst financial crisis of mankind's history. This article summarises the situation in India presently, and looks at the different sectors of the glass container market and estimates growth rates for 2009-2010.