Today, every third toothpaste tube in the world is made by EPL (formerly Essel Propack), the world’s largest speciality packaging company in laminated tubes. The company, which was founded by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group and sold to private equity giant Blackstone in 2019, is currently transforming itself to accelerate growth beyond oral care packaging.Packaging companies have a unique vantage point — they are the first to sense the market pulse when they get new product orders for tubes, wrappers and caps. While oral care remains EPL’s core strength, Hemant Bakshi, Managing Director and Global CEO, is betting on the beauty and cosmetics (B&C) segment for the company’s future growth. Currently, oral care contributes 45-48 per cent of revenues, while B&C accounts for nearly 40 per cent. However, EPL’s global market share in B&C is only about 8 per cent, compared with 35 per cent in oral care.EPL targets annual growth of around 20 per cent in the B&C category, driven by new customer acquisitions, premium packaging innovations and rising demand from emerging brands. “Our rightful share in beauty and cosmetics should be much higher. We intend to double our market share over the next four to five years,” says Bakshi.The global networkEPL manufactures nearly 9 billion toothpaste tubes annually. With 21 manufacturing facilities across 11 countries, the company derives nearly 70 per cent of its revenues from international markets.