Anuga Select 2025: The Case for Packaging as Strategy, Not Afterthought

Walking through the buzzing halls of Anuga Select India 2025, it was easy to sense the scale of change underway in the Indian food and beverage sector. 400 exhibitors from across 45+ countries; now that’s a reminder that India’s food and beverage market is no longer local. It’s gone global.

But amid the excitement of new flavours, new products, and new trade partnerships, one truth stood out clearly to us at Therefore: trade and distribution might open doors, but packaging builds trust, and for brands looking to succeed in India, packaging will be the fine difference between entry and acceptance.

In other words, packaging is not the last step in the journey. It’s the first step towards scale. 

What became clear to us at Anuga Select 2025 was that international brands, whether Korean sauces, Thai snacks, or Southeast Asian beverages, are all actively eyeing India, but their immediate priorities lie in distribution and import partnerships. Packaging, for many, seemed like a consideration for later.

But the truth is, putting off packaging for ‘later’ often arrives after the opportunity has passed. Packaging isn’t just about wrapping a product; it’s about enabling compliance, signalling trust, and creating cultural resonance. Without it, even the strongest distribution network remains just reach, not growth.

Why? Because packaging in India plays a decisive role, not just in winning consumers but in ensuring market readiness:

• Compliance as a gatekeeper

  Import-friendly packaging often doesn’t meet FSSAI and BIS requirements out of the box. Labelling, bilingual communication, expiry norms, and allergen declarations all need to be integrated upfront. Without this, distribution efforts can stall before products even reach shelves.

  
  

• Localisation as a bridge

  A Korean sauce or a Thai snack may be authentic and popular in its home market, but Indian consumers read different cues. Packaging has to bridge cultural codes. Fonts, colour palettes, and symbols of trust (like the Veg and Non-veg logos), to avoid being perceived as inaccessible or confusing.
  

• Innovation as expectation

  Conversations with Indian brand owners at Anuga revealed another shift: consumers increasingly expect packaging to surprise and delight. Take ghee bottles by one of North India’s dairy brands, designed in PET for post-use utility, or a candy brand that offers a toy with every sweet - each toy proudly made in India. Packaging is no longer just functional; it’s where brands differentiate and deepen consumer connection.
  

• The consumer lens is the ultimate filter

  At the end of the day, every pack is judged not by distributors or retailers, but by the consumer holding it in their hands. Does it feel trustworthy? Does it communicate clearly? Does it align with the values they care about? All this, while honouring the product’s origin. In India’s crowded F&B aisles, these silent signals often make the difference between acceptance and rejection. 

Our takeaway from Anuga Select 2025 is unmistakable: packaging can no longer be treated as an afterthought.

Therefore’s perspective

At Therefore, we see packaging not as a finishing touch, but as the strategy that connects products to people. For international brands entering India, this shift is critical: distribution may get you on the shelf, but packaging is what earns acceptance and builds staying power. This is also an opportunity to differentiate early. 

Anuga Select India 2025 was a clear reminder: in today’s food and beverage landscape, growth will be defined not just by what a product contains, but by how its packaging performs. Through compliance, localisation, innovation, and storytelling.