Laminate sheets are essentially 0.8 mm to 1.5 mm thick skins or sheets that are pasted over plywood or block board to give it a desired look. Laminates are pre finished and do not have to be polished , painted or treated in any manner post application. While the primary function of laminate sheets is aesthetics, laminates also act as reinforcing agents and when applied to a plywood or blockboard sheet , they prevent bending . Laminate sheets are the most popular type of plywood finish in India and  come in variety of types, finishes, designs & colors. Laminate sheets are commonly referred to as mica or sunmica by people in India as sunmica was one of the first brands to introduce laminate sheets in India and laminate mica became synonymous with laminates just like fevicol for adhesive or xerox for photo copy.

Most people also gets confused between Laminate or mica and Veneers. Laminates and veneers are similar in the sense that both are thin sheets that are pasted on plywood or blockboard to provide a finishing layer . However the primary difference between laminate and veneer is that laminate is artificial while veneer is made of natural wood. Laminates are essentially made by bonding sheets of paper with designs printed on the top layer. Laminate designs come in wide range including but not limited to wood textures, solid colours, hi gloss, metallic etc. Veneers on the other hand have  textures and grains of wood. Other difference between laminate and veneer is that laminate is pre finished, which means that except for a little bit of cleaning after pasting, no other treatment or finishing is required. On the other hand veneers needs to be polished after installation.

Different types of laminates available in India are :