<p><b>An employee arranges breakfast cereals on the shelves of a supermarket in Mumbai</b></p><p>Indian consumer goods firms, already struggling with mounting raw material prices, are increasingly under pressure to manage rising packaging costs that threaten to hurt wafer-thin margins in a highly competitive market.</p><p>With prices of kraft paper, aluminium foil, adhesives for corrugated boxes, plastics jumping as much as 25 percent in the past three months, firms such as Hindustan Unilever, Colgate Palmolive India, Dabur, Emami, Marico and Godrej Consumer have had a tough time safeguarding profits.</p><p>Packaging has gained importance in India as rising incomes have changed consumer preference, from loosely sold or not-attractively packaged products, to ones that are packaged well and have good pack quality.</p>