Stand-Up Pouch Sizes for Indian Brands: What Actually Fits 100g, 250g, 500g and 1kg

Here is the mistake almost every first-time pouch buyer makes: they decide they are selling a 250g product, they ask their supplier for a "250g pouch," and they assume that settles it.

It doesn't, because a pouch doesn't hold grams. It holds millilitres. And 250g of ground coffee, 250g of turmeric powder and 250g of namkeen occupy wildly different amounts of space — the namkeen needs a pouch roughly three times the size of the turmeric. Order by weight alone and you end up with either a pouch that won't close or a pouch that arrives at the customer looking two-thirds empty.

This guide maps real pouch dimensions to the products Indian brands actually fill them with, so you can pick a size before you request a quote rather than after your first sample fails.

How stand-up pouch sizing actually works

A stand-up pouch is described by three measurements, always in that order:

Width (W) — the flat, face-on measurement across the front of the pouch. This is what your design gets printed on and what the customer sees on a shelf.

Height (H) — the full top-to-bottom measurement, including the area consumed by the top seal and, if you have one, the zipper. You lose roughly 20–30mm of usable height to that seal, which is why a 150mm-tall pouch does not give you 150mm of fill.

Bottom gusset (BG) — written as a pair, like "35mm+35mm." This is the folded panel at the base that lets the pouch open out and stand upright. The bigger the gusset, the deeper the pouch stands and the more it holds. Two pouches with identical width and height but different gussets have meaningfully different capacities.

That third number is the one buyers skip, and it is the one that most affects capacity.

see our stand-up pouch range

The size and capacity chart

These are Evenpack's six stock stand-up pouch sizes, available in kraft and white kraft, with and without a window.

Two volume figures matter, and confusing them is where most sizing mistakes start.

Brim volume is the pouch filled to the very top with nothing left for the seal. It is a useful theoretical number and a terrible number to order against.

Recommended fill is what actually goes in. It runs at about 55% of brim, and the gap is not waste. It is the 20–30mm of clear film the sealing jaws need, the room the product needs to settle without straining the seal, and the slack that lets the pouch stand square rather than bulge. Fill past it and you get seal failures, split gussets and pouches that lie down on shelf.

Most capacity charts published by pouch suppliers quote brim. That is why a pouch sold as holding 500g arrives and holds half that.

What each pouch size actually holds

Fill weights, not brim weights — what you can put in, seal and ship.

A worked read: size 3 (130×205mm) takes 250g of rice, 160g of almonds, 150g of atta, 110g of leaf tea and 100g of ground coffee. Same pouch, five different numbers on the label. That is the whole problem with ordering by headline weight.

Where these numbers come from. Evenpack's own fill tests across three pouch sizes, scaled across the six stock sizes by volume. The two coffee rows are the exception — we have not bench-tested coffee yet, so those are calculated from typical bulk density and will be replaced once we have. All of them are approximations: grind, moisture, how settled the product is when it goes in, and whether your filling line vibrates the pouch will each move them by 5–10%. If you are ordering at volume for a product not on this list, ask for a sample pouch and fill it before you print. We will send one.

Bulk density: why the numbers differ so much

Bulk density is how much a product weighs per millilitre of space it occupies, and it varies enormously across the categories Indian brands sell. It is the reason the chart above looks the way it does.

Makhana is the extreme case and worth stating plainly: at roughly 0.06 g/ml, 50g of makhana needs more pouch than 700g of sugar.

Picking your size by target fill weight

Working backwards from what you're selling:

100g coffee — size 3 (130×205mm). Ground coffee is lighter than most people assume: a 100g coffee pouch needs about twice the space of 100g of rice.

250g coffee — size 5 (180×255mm).

500g coffee and above — no stock stand-up pouch reaches it. Size 6 (205×300mm) tops out near 400g of ground coffee. A 500g or 1kg coffee brand needs a flat-bottom pouch or a custom size, and that is much better discovered now than after artwork is approved.

100g ground spice — size 3 (130×205mm).

250g ground spice — size 6 (205×300mm). Size 5 reaches about 240g — the same shortfall that rules size 4 out for 250g of almonds below.

500g ground spice — size 6 (205×300mm) reaches about 360g, so it does not get there. Custom size or flat-bottom.

250g almonds or dry fruit — size 5 (180×255mm). Size 4 (150×230mm) gets to roughly 240g, which leaves no tolerance for a batch that packs loosely.

500g dry fruit — size 6 (205×300mm), which lands near 580g and gives comfortable room.

1kg rice, pulses or atta — size 6 (205×300mm) handles 900g of rice and 540g of atta, so a kilo of rice is marginal and a kilo of atta is out. Both are flat-bottom territory.

Namkeen, makhana and light snacks — plan for several times the pouch you would expect. This is where brands most often under-order and end up reprinting.

The pattern across all of these: the stand-up pouch range covers 100g to 500g well and runs out above that. If your headline weight is 500g or more of anything dense, have the flat-bottom conversation early.

For coffee, tea and spice brands, our coffee, tea and spice packaging guide covers format, material and barrier choices as well as size.

Five things buyers get wrong

Ordering to weight instead of volume. Covered above, and it is comfortably the most expensive mistake on this list because the pouch is already printed by the time you find out.

Forgetting the zipper eats height. A resealable zipper sits below the top seal and consumes another 10–15mm of usable height. If you are close to the limit of a size, the zipper is what tips you over into the next one.

Ignoring settling. Powders and granules settle in transit. A pouch filled to the brim at the packing table arrives looking 15% empty on the customer's kitchen counter. Leave deliberate headspace and choose the size that looks right after settling, not at the moment of filling.

Assuming window pouches hold the same. They do — a window is a die-cut in the face panel, not a change in geometry — but the window position limits where your fill line can sit visually. A pouch that's technically full can still look under-filled through a badly placed window.

Not running a physical fill test. Every number in this guide is a calculation. Your product's actual density, your filling method and your settling behaviour are specific to you. Order samples in the two sizes you are deciding between, fill them with your actual product, and look at them side by side before you commit to a print run.

request pouch samples in two sizes

Minimum order quantities by size

All six stock sizes are available from 100 pieces on kraft with full-colour digital printing, which is the tier most new brands start on. Above that:

• 100 pieces — kraft paper, full colour, printed on our own low-MOQ digital process
• 1,000 pieces — kraft or BOPP, fully customisable, digitally printed on HP presses
• 10,000+ pieces — kraft, BOPP or aluminium, rotogravure, lowest per-unit price but carries a one-time cylinder charge

Because stock sizes are already tooled, you are not paying for a custom dieline unless your product genuinely needs one. If you do need a non-standard size, that's a custom development order rather than a stock order — worth doing once your volumes justify it, rarely worth it for a first run.

read our low-MOQ buyer's guide

When a stand-up pouch is the wrong format

Worth saying plainly. The stock stand-up pouch range serves roughly 50g to 500g of most products well, and up to about 900g for the densest — rice, salt, sugar. Above that it runs out: a kilo of atta, 500g of coffee and 1kg of protein powder all need a different format. It is also the wrong choice for anything with sharp edges that can pierce the film, and anything where a rigid format genuinely protects the product better.

For products that need a flat, stable base and a squarer shelf profile — think premium coffee, larger tea formats, or anything you want to stand tall on a retail shelf — a flat-bottom pouch is usually the better call. Those come in four stock sizes from 140 × 210mm up to 195 × 295mm.

compare pouch formats

FAQ

What size stand-up pouch do I need for 250g of coffee?

Size 5 (180×255mm) with a 45+45mm bottom gusset. Ground coffee runs about 0.40–0.45 g/ml, and a pouch should only be filled to roughly 55% of its brim volume so the sealing jaws have clear film to grip. That makes a 250g coffee pouch noticeably larger than most supplier capacity charts suggest.

Why does the same pouch hold different weights of different products?

Because pouches are sized by volume, not weight. Bulk density runs from about 0.06 g/ml for makhana to about 0.8 g/ml for rice and pulses, so the same pouch can hold more than ten times the weight of one product than another. Size 3 (130×205mm) takes 250g of rice but only 110g of leaf tea.

Does a zipper reduce how much the pouch holds?

Slightly. A resealable zipper sits below the top seal and takes up another 10–15mm of height, which matters if you're already near the top of a size range.

What is the minimum order for custom printed stand-up pouches in India?

Evenpack's stock sizes start at 100 pieces with full-colour digital printing on kraft. Digital printing on HP presses starts around 1,000 pieces, and rotogravure becomes economical from 10,000 pieces upward.

Should I order a sample before a full print run?

Yes, and fill it with your actual product. The chart above comes from our own fill tests (and, for coffee, from bulk density), but your grind, moisture content, settling and filling method are specific to you and will move the numbers by 5–10% — a fill test is the only way to be certain.

Conclusion

Pouch sizing is a volume problem wearing a weight problem's clothing. Find your product's bulk density, convert your target fill weight into millilitres, match that against the size chart, then add headspace for settling — and confirm it with a physical fill test before anything goes to print.

Get that sequence right and you avoid the two outcomes nobody wants: a pouch that won't seal, and a pouch that makes your product look smaller than it is.

talk to Evenpack about pouch sizing for your product