MUMBAI, INDIA — Rajkot, India-based extrusion machine maker Rajoo Engineers Ltd. has formed a joint venture with Meaf Machines BV to make sheet and thermoforming equipment.

Product design, technical know-how and critical components will come from Meaf, which is based in Yerseke, the Netherlands.

“There are certain technologies which Rajoo doesn’t [currently] have that would come with the new joint venture, like tilting mold thermoforming with stacking solution and sheet extrusion system. Our idea is to bring in the cost and energy-efficient technology,” said Sunil Jain, president of Rajoo Engineers, at the recent Specialty Films & Flexible Packaging Conference in Mumbai.

Rajoo generates annual sales of about 100 million rupees ($20 million). Meaf has been in the sheet extrusion and thermoforming machinery market since 1947.

Jain said the venture will help Rajoo broaden its reach.

“This is still a new market with immense potential that unfolds in India in the years to come with organized retailing growing in India, more disposable containers are required in this market,” Jain said. The market for disposable containers in India is growing 20-22 percent annually, even faster than flexible packaging, he said.

Thermoformed packaging with barrier properties is relatively uncommon in India, but the partners expect it to grow significantly. Rising energy and labor costs also have packaging companies looking at ways to automate and improve output and energy efficiency, Jain said.

In September, the Indian government opened a 110-acre food processing industrial park in Karnataka. The park is hope to 30 food processing plants, and it was started with an initial estimated investment of $166 million.