There is no shortage of conversations around sustainability today. The real challenge is turning those conversations into products that work in everyday life, perform consistently in manufacturing environments, and eventually compete with materials people have relied on for decades. This is the space in which Earth Leaves is building its story.
What Earth Leaves is building
Officially known as ARK LEAFORA EARTH LEAVES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, the Hyderabad-based company is developing biodegradable moulded paper-pulp bottles as a potential alternative to conventional plastic packaging. Rather than treating sustainable packaging simply as a design exercise, Earth Leaves is approaching it as an engineering and manufacturing challenge, with a focus on developing a practical packaging solution that can progress towards commercial-scale production.
At the centre of the venture is Founder and CEO Arya Kakollu, supported by Sravan Kumar Siluveru, who leads Business Development and serves as CFO, and Sudharshan Reddy Gundra, who oversees Operations and Strategy as COO. Together, the leadership team brings different professional backgrounds to the company's objective of developing a Made-in-India sustainable packaging solution with global ambitions.
The engineering challenge behind a paper bottle
The concept sounds simple at first: replace a conventional plastic bottle with one made from paper pulp. In reality, the engineering involved is considerably more complex. A bottle has to maintain its shape, withstand handling, safely contain its intended contents, provide an acceptable surface finish, and remain practical throughout filling, storage, transportation and use.
For Earth Leaves, this involves working across several areas including pulp formulation, moulding behaviour, structural strength, surface finishing and internal barrier technology needed to make a paper-pulp structure suitable for liquid applications. These details matter because a sustainable product only becomes useful once it can perform consistently beyond the prototype stage and meet the practical requirements of real-world applications.
Bottle formats and manufacturing scale
The company is currently working with bottle formats of 350 ml, 500 ml and 1 litre, intended to provide flexibility for future beverage and consumer-product applications. Bottle designs can also be developed and adapted according to specific commercial requirements, subject to product-specific performance and validation requirements.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Bottle formats in development | 350 ml, 500 ml, 1 litre |
| Planned facility capacity | ~60,000 – 1,00,000 bottles/day at full scale |
| Base of operations | Hyderabad, India |
| Initial international ambition | Market presence across 42 countries |
| Longer-term ambition | Manufacturing presence across 42 countries |
The larger objective, however, goes beyond simply creating multiple bottle sizes. Earth Leaves is working towards establishing a repeatable manufacturing system capable of delivering consistent quality at significantly higher volumes. Reaching that level requires evaluating automated machinery, production-line design, suitable raw materials, tooling, manufacturing infrastructure, process control and quality systems that can support continuous production — work that extends across product development, testing, manufacturing preparation and commercial-scale planning.
The people behind Earth Leaves
| Name | Role | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Arya Kakollu | Founder & CEO | Aeronautical Engineer |
| Sravan Kumar Siluveru | Business Development & CFO | MBA – Finance |
| Sudharshan Reddy Gundra | COO – Operations & Strategy | M.Com; former civil works contractor |
Arya Kakollu's career reflects a transition from an engineering background towards entrepreneurship and sustainable manufacturing. As an Aeronautical Engineer, his engineering-oriented approach to problem solving has shaped his interest in developing solutions that combine technical thinking with practical applications — an interest that gradually evolved into the broader challenge of sustainable packaging. As Founder and CEO, he is focused on bringing together technology, product development and business strategy to build a Made-in-India packaging venture with global ambitions.
Sravan Kumar Siluveru brings a financial and business perspective to the leadership team, holding an MBA in Finance. His role combines financial planning with business development, strategic relationships and commercial growth, focused on building the financial and business framework required to support the company's transition from product development to commercial-scale operations and its longer-term international ambitions.
Sudharshan Reddy Gundra's path has led him towards operations, strategic planning and organisational execution. His previous experience as a civil works contractor gave him practical exposure to project coordination, resource management and execution within operational environments — experience he now applies as COO, translating the company's vision into structured operational systems, manufacturing planning, process development and long-term strategic execution.
Three different backgrounds, one shared objective: engineering a sustainable packaging solution from India for the world.
Made-in-India, built for global markets
The team is placing considerable emphasis on building the technology and manufacturing ecosystem within India. With Hyderabad as its base, Earth Leaves is positioning the project as a Made-in-India packaging innovation with the potential to serve markets well beyond the country.
Its longer-term plan is ambitious: the company aims to initially expand its international market presence across 42 countries, with the longer-term objective of subsequently expanding its manufacturing presence across the same number of markets. Such expansion would depend on successful commercial implementation, market adoption and the ability to maintain consistent standards across different markets — but it reflects the scale at which the founders are thinking.
From prototype to production
What makes the Earth Leaves story interesting is that it sits at the intersection of environmental responsibility and manufacturing reality. Reducing reliance on conventional plastic packaging is increasingly discussed as an environmental priority, but alternatives also have to meet the expectations of manufacturers, distributors, brands and consumers — they must be practical, commercially viable and capable of being produced reliably. Earth Leaves is approaching that challenge from the engineering side: not simply creating a paper bottle, but building the manufacturing capability required to produce it at scale, with India as the foundation for a larger international ambition.
As the company progresses through product development, testing, manufacturing preparation and commercial planning, it is working to bridge the gap between sustainable packaging concepts and real-world manufacturing requirements. If that transition from development to scalable production succeeds, Earth Leaves could become part of a broader shift in how everyday packaging is designed, produced and ultimately understood.
Sources and editorial references
This profile is based on a self-submitted account and photographs provided by Earth Leaves (ARK LEAFORA EARTH LEAVES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED) for editorial feature. Company details, production figures, expansion plans and role descriptions reflect the company's own account and have not been independently verified against regulatory, financial or manufacturing records. Stated production capacity and international expansion plans are forward-looking targets rather than confirmed current output.