‘PlastIndia University to build skilled workforce for plastics’

Metro India News | Hyderabad

India’s ambitions of becoming a global manufacturing and innovation hub will require a strong pool of specialized professionals in plastics, polymers and sustainability, PlastIndia Foundation president Dr. Raju Desai said at the inauguration of HIPLEX 2026 in Hyderabad. Speaking in the presence of Telangana Minister for IT and Industries D. Sridhar Babu, Desai underlined the importance of PlastIndia International University (PIU), Vapi, in creating the talent and knowledge ecosystem needed to support the next phase of growth in the plastics industry. 

Sponsored by the PlastIndia Foundation, PIU is India’s first university dedicated to plastics and sustainability. Its programs include B.Tech courses in Plastics and Polymer Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering, along with specialized programs for working professionals. The 32-acre campus includes laboratories, research facilities, processing and testing infrastructure, makerspaces and other learning facilities. The university has a long-term technical engagement with the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell) to develop engineering programs, laboratories, curriculum and quality-assurance systems at PIU.

Desai said research at PIU would focus on plastic recycling, biodegradable and compostable polymers, polymeric biomaterials, renewable-source materials, plastics processing, polymer synthesis, composites and nano-composites. He stressed that the classroom, laboratory and factory must work together, with industrial problems becoming research subjects and research outcomes reaching industry.