Mr. Vimal Kishore Chief Executive - Paper Division Orient Paper & Industries Ltd.

Profile

He is a certified chartered engineer in chemical engineering from “H.B.T.I. Kanpur” and has done diploma in business management from AIMA, New Delhi. Has more than 3 decades of management and professional experience in various prominent Indian paper business houses like JK Paper, Century Pulp & Paper, West Coast Paper Mills and Orient Paper & Industries. Presently, he is working as CEO in Orient Paper, Amlai, heading the paper business. During his career he also did a project of non-woven fiberglass tissues in U.P. Twinga Fiberglass Ltd.

Main area of work

He is deeply involved in various manufacturing operations, projects, technical, managerial and administrative functions and has also led various research and development projects. At Orient Paper, Amlai, he has commissioned the new tissue machine and consolidated the tissue product range. He has worked extensively in various areas needing immediate attention like water & energy conservation, natural resource and environment management, cost reduction.

Approach towards work

He believes in team building and providing highly conducive work environment to the team. Improving the process & maximize qualitative production having minimum environmental impact with minimum investments are his forte. He also had to his credit some of the India’s first technology initiations into the paper industry like ECF pulp line, enzyme bleaching, conceptualizing & installing of state of art DIP plant etc.

Importance of investment in technology

Technology plays a vital role in achieving the business goal mitigating the environmental needs. Thus investment in technology is certainly for the up-keep of business and environmental justification.

Mr. Santosh Wakhloo Vice President - Packaging Board SBU JK Paper Ltd.

Profile

He has done B.E. (NIT, Srinagar) and MBA, PGPMAX (ISB, Hyderabad).

Main area of work

He was heading the sales and marketing function of coated paper and thereafter of packaging boards of JK Paper. Recently he got the responsibility of managing the entire packaging board business. Currently the company is manufacturing approx. 90,000+ MT of premium virgin fiber boards.

Approach towards work

His approach towards work revolves around understanding customer needs (both internal and external) and marrying them to the capabilities and objectives of the company. Success is always an outcome of teamwork. He firmly believe in working together as a team, fostering an open work culture where ideas are discussed, debated and agreed upon before implementation. He sets challenging targets without fear of failure and ensuring that the pressure to achieve is shared equally between him and the team. Also, tries to praise, compliment and encourage the team members not only on achieving targets but also on the efforts put in to achieve the same.

Importance of investment in technology

If we study any industry or product category two facts are universal

• Quality of products and services are of paramount importance in any business. Today, both these need to be bundled together as a package.

• Manufacturers of good quality products command respect and premium from their customers and never face a dearth of orders. On the other hand poor quality manu-facturers have to fight to get orders and fetch little premium or respect.

With industrial intermediate products like our packaging boards, consistency of product and service is what constitutes quality. Higher human intervention leads to compromise in consistency and as a consequence quality tends to suffer. The only way to improve consistency (quality) is through investment in the right technology. We should invest in “Fit for Purpose” technology.

Technology is expensive to begin with, but it pays more for itself as it delivers value by lowering running costs, post manufacture wastages / rework, defects and also fetching better value from customers. With decreasing availability and increasing cost of labor investment in technology would give better returns in the immediate future.

Investment in environment friendly technologies has a long-term horizon but is the need of the hour. We have a responsibility towards the society at large and now customers have begun demand products from companies which are environment friendly. This is evident in customers asking for responsible forestry based products specifying FSC Certified paper or even pays a premium for such products.

In a nutshell I would like to state that investment in right technology is the only success mantra for the future. If we have to survive and grow this is something we really need to focus upon.

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Mr. AV Rao Vice President ITC Ltd - PSPD

Profile

He is a graduate in mechanical and marine engineering from Andhra University. He has a varied experience in maintenance and operations across shipping, textiles and forest based pulp and paper industry. During his career in shipping he has worked with U.K. and Hong Kong based shipping companies with international exposure in maintenance and operations of merchant ships. His experience in paper industry is around 20 years.

Main area of work

He is currently heading divison’s projects department and has the additional responsibility for the operations of Kovai, Bollaram and Tribeni units of the division. He has introduced some of the latest state of the art technologies at the division that has made the unit Bhadrachalam one of the world’s best mills. He has been the champion of the Bollaram unit’s turnaround while he headed the unit. He headed the operations of Bhadrachalam unit, the largest integrated pulp and paper facility of India for three years. He has championed the project symphony as the business manager and implemented the most complex solution of SAP in the division. He has handled the major projects of PM5, PM6 and the modern pulp mill at Bhadrachalam.

Approach towards work

He has passion for working with modern technologies in process, automation, environment and energy management. He truly believes that “paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees and annual plants. Growing and harvesting them provides jobs for millions of individuals, and managed forests are good for the environment, providing clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage.”

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Mr. R. Mani Chief General Manager - Operations Tamilnadu Newsprint & Papers Ltd

Profile

He has done B.E. (Hons) in Mech. Engineering.

Main area of work

He co-ordinates production & maintenance of all process areas and service functions in the mill along with improving environmental performance of the mill.

Approach towards work

Sub-delegation of powers and obtain regular reports on the performance of various production areas. We should monitor the overall equipment effectiveness of production centres and total cost of maintenance to take decision on replacements. Apart from this the key focus areas should be energy & water conservation and cost & waste reduction.

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Mr. M.K. Goyal - Vice President Business Development Wires & Fabriks (SA) Ltd.

Profile

He is alumnus of IPT, Rorkee from the year 1969 and has been serving the industry from last 42 years. He started his career with Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills, then served Rohtas Industries before moving to Shree Dinesh Mills ltd and currently, associated with Wires and Fabrics Ltd as VP – Business Development.

His main area of work

He has been handling techno commercial function with machine clothing industry since 1971. He moved to Shalimar Wires and Industries Ltd in the year 1975 and served them for next 25 years. He has travelled widely to several European, South Asian, Gulf and African countries and created a slot for Indian machine clothing manufacturer in those markets.

Approach towards work

He believes in trying & trying till the success is yours. This philosophy has helped him in achieving success in the development of polyester fiber for paper mills when he moved to Reliance Industries Ltd in Mumbai in the year 2001. Besides identifying the opportunities and pursuing it beyond a point is one of the traits of his persona.

Importance of investment in technology

I strongly believe that technology and quality will be ultimate winner in the race. Currently when industry is passing through turbulent time, good quality will lead to customer preference and in good time will give higher returns. New technology and equipments result in direct cost reduction and deliver product of high quality. With opening of economy and China as our neighbor & competitor in every field, there is no way that we can shy away from acquiring tomorrow’s technology today.

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Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain Sr. President Emami Paper Mills Ltd

Profile

He has done post graduation in paper technology and diploma in business administration. He has been working in the industry for more than 3 decades and has climbed the ladder from shift in-charge to senior president of large pulp & paper mills in India. He has hand on experience of production, maintenance and executing big projects through the understanding of working in leading paper mills like West Coast Paper Mills, Hindustan Paper Corporation, Orient Industries, Rama Newsprint & Papers, Khanna Paper Mills and Emami Paper Mills.

Main area of work

His main area of work is to handle entire mill operations, project formulation and execution. He has been catalyst in installing the country’s fastest newsprint machine running at 1125 m/m speed at Emami Paper Mills. Apart from this, he has implemented the project of almost doubling the capacity of Khanna Paper Mills within record mill shut down time with latest technology by increasing overall productivity and reducing production cost. Presently, he is responsible for project development and mills troubleshooting.

Approach towards work

He believes in building good and strong team comprising of younger technocrats having result oriented attitude.

Importance of investment in technology

To survive in today’s competitive market, mills technological up-gradation is the only answer. Technology can give best efficiency with overall productivity.

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Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal Vice President - Technical Magnum Ventures Ltd

Profile

He is an alumnus of IPT, Roorkee from the year 1977. He is being serving the paper industry for more than 35 years.

Main area of work

He started his career from Rohit Pulp & Paper Mills Ltd and his main area concerns with paper manufacturing and quality control with cost savings. In last 14 years he has the experience of managing 200 TPD plants irrespective of variety of paper such as coated duplex board, writing & printing paper, newsprint, tissue and kraft paper. Apart from production & quality he has also worked in other areas like co-generation power project, new machine erection & commissioning, dismantling of old machine out of India, deinking projects etc.

Approach towards work

Be positive irrespective of the conditions.

Importance of investment in technology

The technology is changing fast and we have to go along with it. To produce best quality products with cost savings and maintaining the environment we have to focus on new technology avenues.

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Mr. R.K. Jain, President Pulp & Paper Division Kohinoor Group of Companies

Profile

He has done B.Sc. (Engg.) – Mech., F.I.E., F.I.V, chartered engineer. He is associated with paper industry for more than 5 decades. In his work span he has provided consultancy and has worked in various paper companies primarily handling projects in mills like Bindal Paper Mills Ltd, Naini Tissues Ltd, Khanna Paper Mills, Bengal Paper Mills etc.

Main area of work

He is handling the 250 TPD greenfield writing & printing project in Assam with the investment of Rs. 560 crores. The commercial production is expected to start in March 2013. His area of work includes overseeing detailed engineering work, vendor selection, site monitoring of civil work and placement of order, execution, installation and commissioning. In the project cooking line, fiberline, evaporators are being sourced from Metso and other orders will be finalized in March-April 2012.

Approach towards work

Be open to innovations and curious to find solutions, fight and take challenging opportunities.

Importance of investment in technology

Investment in new technologies, instrumentation, automation, continuous monitoring, adopting latest tools for study & analysis will definitely lead to value creation in terms of international level of quality at lower cost, highest efficiency as well as environment friendliness.

Fibrous Raw Material

Mr. RC Mall, Executive Advisor, Emami Paper Mills Ltd.

This is the most important and crucial issue of the industry. Whenever we talk of the demand growth and create matching supply end, deliberations invariably end up with the focus on raw material availability, be it woods, agro residues or recycled fiber. So far as wood is concerned, prospects of its availability has been at the forefront of the discussions at any forum and all concluding that the best possible economic solution lies in the decades old proposals of the industry to harness the degraded forest lands which will result in multiple advantages apart from the raw material need of the industry. Lot of stress is now being given on an organized system of collection of waste paper too. This is an area for which a concerted move from the Government, particularly the civic bodies, with involvement of local civil societies supported by an initiative and drive from the Industry will get some results.

Thus, the best way to secure raw material for the Industry lie in immediate decision by the Government to allow use of degraded forestlands by the industry for captive plantation with necessary safeguards and due control of regulatory authorities, and the need to develop moves to socially and culturally change the mind-sets of people to help improve collection of waste paper for recycling it back to paper making.

Dr. H D Kulkarni Vice President - Plantation ITC Limited - PSPD

Indian Paper Mills Wood Requirement & Generation

India has a total forest area of about 75 million ha which forms only 22.8% of the total geographical area (328 million ha) of the country. Forests in India are fast disappearing. At the time of independence more than 22% of India’s geographical area was covered by dense forests. Recent satellite surveys show that hardly 11% of the area now supports closed forests, i.e. forest with 40% crown cover even though the national forest policy enunciated soon after independence in 1952 that at least 33% of geographical area of the country should be under forest cover. Further, the per capita forest area in India is only 0.064 ha against the world average of 0.64 ha. Out of 69.09 million ha of the forest cover recorded, nearly 28.84 million ha are degraded forestlands. The productivity of Indian forest is only 1.34 m3/ha/yr against the world average of 2.1 m3/ha/yr. Earlier forests were the main resource for wood and bamboo based raw material for paper industry. Depletion of forest areas and reduction in volume of extraction has hit badly supply of raw material to the wood based industry.

In recent times, the demand for the fire wood, timber and industrial wood in the country continues to grow because of increasing population and the growth of economy. The Indian Forest Act-1927, The Forest Conservation Act-1980, The National Forest Policy-1988 and The National Forest Commission 2003 are the umbrella legislation and framework for forest protection and conservation. Under these acts, rules and policy, the supply of raw material to wood based industries is phased out from forests. Participation of the private sector, even in reforestation of 28.84 million ha degraded forestlands and Joint Forest Management is not allowed as per the policy guidelines. In the National Forest Policy 1988, the wood based industries have been advised to encourage agro forestry for raising plantation to meet the raw material demand. Agriculture sector in the country covers about 143 million ha out of which 40 million ha is classified as degraded. Hence, non-forestlands such as private lands are explored for raising tree crops to augment the available wood resources. In the course of time social and farm forestry emerged for meeting the wood demand of the paper industry.

The wood based paper mills in India continue to face challenges with forest-based raw material. Pulp and paper industry consumes 3% of total national requirement of wood while, the major consumption being fuel wood (89.5%) and timber (7.5%). Presently the annual pulp production is 2.71 million tonnes from 9.83 million tonnes of wood. Nearly 20% of wood is procured from government sources while, 80% is from agro farm forestry sources. The bamboo and wood requirement is 0.82 and 9.01 million tonnes per annum respectively. The strategy adopted by the industry to meet the ever-growing demand of wood on a sustainable basis is to obtain wood from social and farm forestry plantations. Over a period of 22 years the paper industry has promoted nearly 642,208 ha plantations, which is estimated to produce 38.53 million tonnes of wood at 60 tonnes per ha yield. However, if we consider last 11 years plantations of Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Leucaena and Acacia as standing crop, it is to the tune of 321,104 ha which can produce 19.26 million tonnes of wood. At the felling cycle of 4 years, the wood production annually is 4.8 million tonnes. The current level of planting by the paper mills is 50,000 ha per annum. Apart from the industrial efforts, farmers on their own are raising plantations. In the recent years several private eucalyptus clonal nurseries have sprang up and an additional 20,000 ha area every year is planted. This is adding to the general availability of wood to the industry. Hence, the industries wood demand of 9.83 million tonnes annually is met through farm forestry plantations only. Paper companies are aggressively looking at farm forestry to cut down on the landed cost of wood. With transportation cost accounting for nearly 30 to 50% of the wood cost, developing farm forestry plantations near the manufacturing units are being pursued vigorously by the mills. Considering the future demand of paper of 24 million tonnes by 2025, an additional 12 million tonnes of wood is required from 1.2 million ha of pulpwood plantations. To meet its ever-growing demand of wood on continuous and sustainable basis the industry has to enlarge its social and farm forestry plantation programme following agro-forestry models for wood and food security in addition explore plantation programme with forest development corporations. ITC promoted 125,000 ha farm forestry plantations using R&D to increase productivity to 20-58 t/ha/yr compared to 4 to 6 t/ha/yr from seedling plantations which goes in favour of fast wood forestry. Hence, strengthening Private-Private partnership appears to be the answer to meet its fiber requirement.

Human Resource

Mr. Ashish De, Chief Executive - New Project, JK Paper Ltd.

Certainly paper industry will have reasonably bright prospect in India during next 5 to 10 years. It is known that the demand of paper and paper products grow and match with the GDP growth. The rapid change in the lifestyle of both rural and urban Indian, specifically in the strong middle class segment, having high disposal amount, will fuel higher growth in certain product segments. The next generation paper industry will see large new investments in the contemporary technology. However, a parallel growth will also be observed in the investment in the medium size paper units with conventional technology to bridge demand supply gap. As faster growth is also observed in many other new economy segments, young talented Indians will have many carrier options in front of them. This would be a real challenge for the paper industry especially for the integrated pulp & paper companies, who intend to invest large in the high technology area to tackle the competition from global players, who will step in this growing market.

According to the concept of “3 M” (Money, Machine and Men), it is obviously the last “M” is by far the most important one to make any business successful. Thus the question of human resource is very thought provoking. Before addressing the solution, I would like to sum up the challenges in front of the paper industry for their human resources:

• Most of the integrated pulp & paper units in India are located in very remote rural areas. Today’s young talented engineers, having many more options available, do not think paper industry as the preferred option. Unlike the scenario 30 years back, we do not see the students from the premier institutes, are entering the paper industry, especially in the mill operation.
• The spouses being the working members do not get any serious carrier option near the mill site. Hence, force the partners to venture alternative options near the city areas where many options are available today.
• Monotonous post working life in most of the units.
• Very long and unpredictable working hours in many units due to very poor operating crews and lack of “up to date technology and automation”.
• Lack of Education and health facility in many of the units in rural areas.
• No much scope to enhance the academic qualification utilizing the post work time.
• Urban families being nuclear, the parents, most of whom have one or two kids, do not wish to send their talented wards to very remote places.
• Paper industry margins being comparatively low are unable to match the package with other high profitable industries.

The above situation is not going to improve soon rather it may worsen and may create a larger vacuum in the talent pool for the mill operation in the years to come. So we have to think differently to handle this problem. Some tested and tried steps:

• Accept first, that one is not going to get too many trained engineers from the industry that one can hire.
• Prepare a proper two / two matrix for the total manpower. Keep few champions and create a clear roadmap for these champs for their growth path. HR department and the top management should continuously review the people matrix to retain the talent.
• Instead of chasing poor products of a premier institute, recruit top products from the B Class institutes, close to the mill site.
• Develop a robust training programme for the entry-level talent. Make the people development as one of the major KRA of all the senior managers and link with their pay structure.
• Certainly some trained people will leave. Instead of getting annoyed, keep recruiting fresher every year. Would be better, if the locally identified college curriculum can be collaborated to suit the need of the paper industry. Maintain the bench strength.
• Most important is to improve the standard of the operators. The industry will need more qualified operators as the technology is upgraded day by day. All the operators must be ITI or +2 qualified. The closest ITI may be adopted to create a supply bank of the operator category. Good and independent operators will reduce the workload of the engineers and managers from doing the non-value added jobs.
• Remuneration should be linked with performances to avoid the attrition of the champions.
• A transparent talent management process should be in practice.
• Lastly, the quality of life should be improved at all the level of the mill site team, along with the basic facilities such as education of the wards and health of the family members.

Image Building

Mr. Abhishek Gupta Marketing Head Trident Group

Paper industry has typically been viewed in a poor light due to its dependence on natural resources especially wood for making pulp and paper. One of the major challenges the pulp & paper industry faces today is to create a cleaner image in the mind of consumers by adopting environment friendly practices to produce paper and reduce its impact on the environment.

Moving in this direction, in the last few years the pulp & paper industry around the world has in fact done more than many other industries to become environmentally responsible. There are several paper mills globally and in India, which have invested time and money in developing new technologies and adopting environment friendly manufacturing practices.

Use of alternative raw materials has been the biggest shift in this direction. Today high quality paper is being manufactured using raw materials other than wood, which on the contrary have a positive impact on the environment. At Trident we stand true to our tagline “In active Collaboration with Nature” by using wheat straw as a primary source of raw material. With certifications like: FSC, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 & OHSAS 18001:2007, use of ECF technology & state-of-the-art ETP plant to control water pollution, Trident Paper is doing its bit to help protect the environment.

While the industry has taken the initiative to work in this direction there is still a long way to go with innovations in technology and processes.

Imports: A Challenge for Indian Paper Mills

Mr. Amit Gupta Technical Director Dev Priya Industries Ltd.

It is needless to say that “Import” either of raw material / spares / plant & machinery / technical know-how, will play a great role in the Indian paper industry. As we all know that due to US crises our INR is getting weaker & weaker everyday and we all has to digest this bitter truth that our currency has weakened by 20 – 25% in a short span of last 4-5 Months & it seems that situation will remain the same in the near future because our Government is not showing any hardcore interest to cope with the situation. So we all have to be ready for the challenges and fight with the current economical scenario.

For this we at Dev Priya Industries have already invested 45-50 millions rupees in our PM-I and now again we have planned to invest further 50-60 million rupees, all this will be for optimized development and treatment of fibres in stock preparation and paper machine. We have given order to Voith for upgradation and automation of complete stock preparation of PM1 like PM2, and we think that one cannot run away from imports instead we have to fight to make our all systems optimized. All this will not only help us to be competitive with global market but also to fight against the finish paper coming into the country.

Mr. Vijay Gupta Managing Director DaiEi Papers SA

For most of the Indian paper industry the challenge of input import is greater than the challenge of paper imports. Costs of local producers have been impacted by the strong Dollar as many Indian mills have large dependence on import of fiber, energy and chemicals.

On most paper grades the domestic mills are well equipped not just to meet the challenge from imports, but also to step up exports to neutralize higher import costs of inputs.

The dynamics of each grade of paper are very different and the opportunities and challenges will vary widely by grade and region. The only area where we expect major challenge from import of paper is in containerboard driven by:

• Global over capacity

• Higher automation and consolidation of the Indian industry

• Limited supply of domestic quality product

• Local production challenges due to fiber shortage, low quality fiber and small scale.

Over Capacity

Mr. RN Agarwal, Chairman & Managing Director, NR Agarwal Industries Ltd.

The future of paper industry is linked to the future of Indian economy. Although at present we are all passing through a turbulent period, we can foresee a better and brighter prospect in 2012. The inflation is coming under control and after a gap of two years, for the first time RBI has loosened its tight monetary regulation. A favorable GDP growth will result in higher demand for paper and paperboards. No doubt like most of the industries, paper industry is also facing pressure on selling price coupled with increase in input prices of all raw materials it consumes. However with a population of 1.2 billion with higher young population having large disposable income the demand for consumer products is bound to be increase. Packaging industry is growing at 14% CAGR. The high growth industries, viz pharma, food & FMCG will sustain growth of packaging boards. In last two years several new duplex board manufacturing units have been set up all over the country. As a result an additional capacity of over 200,000 MT has been created and there is at present an oversupply of duplex boards. There is a rising customer expectation. Those mills, which can offer quality product at competitive price combined with faster delivery and better service to clients will overcome the problem of excess capacity.

Mr. A Velliangiri Deputy Managing Director Tamilnadu Newsprint & Papers Ltd.

The year 2011 was a highly challenging year for Indian paper industry. Excess supplies of paper into the market and slow-down in demand caused severe setback to the industry. Increase in raw material, energy and financing cost have put enormous pressure on the cost of production. These adversities have hit the bottom line of the mills very badly.

With good monsoon and the anticipated improvement in economic growth, demand for paper and paper products is expected to improve significantly in 2012.

The bitter experience of 2011 has made the paper industry to focus on innovative measures in the entire supply-chain management to bring down the cost pressure and keep export as a regular channel to neutralize market volatility.

The Indian paper industry is expected to be positive in 2012.

Threat from Electronic Media

Mr. Jaspal Singh Sr. Vice President - Marketing The Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd.

“International Paper has selectively and strategically invested in markets where demand for paper is growing and cost structures are good. India is a perfect example of our investment strategy, with its rapidly growing economy and robust business environment, which creates a need for more printing and writing paper. While electronic media is growing and has many uses, paper is fundamental to the economy and always will be. Paper is truly sustainable, with fully recoverable waste, ready for recycling into new paper. When people use more paper, tree farmers plant more trees, which benefits everyone.”

Mr. Rajeev Gupta Head - Paper Business Trident Group

The Indian paper industry is a thriving industry and is expected to grow in 2012 as well. The usage of paper cannot be ignored and this awareness is bound to bring about changes in the paper industry for the better. Inspite of advance technology, like: advent of I Pad’s, Galaxy Tabs and Smart Phones we can expect a consistent demand for paper at least in next few years.

Electronic media require the user to bear a substantial fixed cost, by buying a computer, smart phone or tablet and by paying for connectivity. On the other hand, for print, all of the fixed costs are born by the publisher, with advertisers and readers splitting the variable costs.

In terms of consumption of paper, India consumes 9 kg paper as compared to world average of 58 kg. However, with more disposable income in the hands of the people (especially the younger lot), the scene is fast changing. People now prefer branded products. Similar is the case with paper too. Consumers are now buying more of branded notebooks and files as compared to the non-branded ones. Indians are becoming more environment friendly thereby replacing plastic with paper. India Inc. has been doing well and requires more of copier paper, paper for print outs, marketing etc. All these factors will ensure that paper industry continues to grow in line with the growth in GDP over the next year.

Current market scenario for W&P segment is indeed gloomy with most of the mills & distributors carrying huge stocks. This situation is likely to continue in 2012. However, we believe somewhere in February end the demand will be back to its normal.

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Ballarpur Industries Ltd.

Ideas in Paper

Established : 1945

Mills :
Unit Ballarpur: District Chandrapur, Maharashtra;
Unit Bhigwan: District Pune, Maharashtra;
Unit Shree Gopal: Yamunanagar, Haryana;
Unit Sewa: Korapur, Orissa;
Unit Ashti: Gadchiroli, Maharashtra;
Unit Kamalapuram: Kamalapuram, Andhra Pradesh;
Unit Sabah Forest Industries (SFI): Sabah, Malaysia

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Branch Offices : Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi

No. of Employees : 2476 (permanent employees on its rolls)

Production :
2010-11: 886,230 MT
2009-10: 796,718 MT
2008-09: 604,731 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 4,498.1 crores
2009-10: Rs. 3,794.6 crores
2008-09: Rs. 2,824.7 crores

Net Profit (PAT) :
2010-11: Rs. 266.1 crores
2009-10: Rs. 240.4 crores
2008-09: Rs. 187.9 crores

Growth Rate : 18.2%

Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper Produced: 1,118 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• BILT continues to work with the farming community for planting tree species that are suitable for industrial wood through its subsidiary, BILT Tree Tech Limited (BTTL), which is currently operating in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. BTTL has environmentally controlled global standard nurseries in Maharashtra and Orissa with a capacity to produce 10 million plants for production of clonal saplings. The company also facilitates financial assistance for small and marginal farmers through bank. Regular training programmes are also conducted for farmers to educate and update them on the techniques of raising pulpwood plantations to yield maximum productivity from their land.

• The company has created various platforms in the communities which have been used as tools for community-based action programmes. Self Help Groups (SHGs), Youth Groups (YGs), Farmers’ Co-operatives, Village Education Committees (VECs) and Village Development Committees (VDCs).

Major Developments:

• Commissioning of satellite plant of SMI for PCC at the Unit for 100 per cent utilization of PCC in place of talc as filler.

• Installation of a new paper machine from Allimand, France with an installed capacity of 165,000 MT at Ballarpur Unit.

• Switched over to alkaline sizing, resulting in quality improvement with respect to brightness, opacity and bulk.

• Commissioned oxygen plant and started using in bleaching sequence Eop stage for reduction of hydrogen peroxide consumption.

• Commissioned DCS for bleach plant operation.

• An additional 120,000 MT of pulp capacity at Sabah Forest Industries Sdn. Bhd. (SFI), Malaysia is expected to come on line in October 2011.

• Acquired the entire paid up equity share capital of Premier Tissues (India) Limited (PTIL).

• Installed new bundling machine and new reel stretch wrapping machine to improve customer servicing.

• Introduced new labels with bar code to improve customer servicing.

• Reduction in customer complaints by 20 per cent.

• Completed major upgrade of core ERP – Oracle eBiz.

• On 5 August 2011, Ballarpur International Graphic Paper Holdings (BIGPH), a stepdown subsidiary, successfully completed its debut transaction in the international bond markets by raising US$ 200 million in perpetual non-callable 5/10 year bonds.

• BILT Paper Plc (BPP) was incorporated in the United Kingdom as a wholly owned step down subsidiary of the company. On 22 March 2011, BPP announced its intention to apply (ITF) for admission to the premium listing segment of the official list of the UK Listing Authority (“UKLA”), to trade on the main market of the London Stock Exchange and to undertake an offering of ordinary shares (IPO) of approximately US$330 million for capital expenditure and debt reduction.

Products Launched:

• ‘BILT Magna Print’ – it has become the largest selling uncoated brand in India.

• PTIL introduces two new brand ‘Premier’ and ‘Royal’.

• Unit Bhigwan art paper for digital printing and gravure printing, art card suitable for injection moulding painting process (paint shade cards job) and new shade development (high whiteness) in printed circuit board.

• Introduced new shade for ‘Ten on Ten’ market in copier grades.

• Ballarpur Unit successfully manufactured new shades in various products, namely BILT Magna Print, Wisdom Print, MICR Cheque Paper, Maplitho and Extensible Sack Kraft Paper (ESKP) to meet customer requirements, in domestic as well as export markets.

Export Markets: Exported over 14% production to 80 countries.

Future Plans: A 170,000 MT of additional pulp capacity is expected to be commissioned at Ballarpur by the quarter ending 30 June, 2012.

ITC Limited – Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division

Towards a Greener World

Established : 1979

Headquarter : Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Mill :
Unit Bhadrachalam: Sarapaka Village, Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh
Unit Tribeni: PO Chandrahati, District Hoogly West Bengal
Unit Kovai: Mettupalayam, Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu
Unit Bollarum: Bollarum, Andhra Pradesh

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Branch Offices : New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Secunderabad

No. of Employees : 3682

Installed Capacity : 452,500 MT

Production :
2010-11: 558,884 MT
2009-10: 547,931 MT
2008-09: 469,335 MT

Financials:
Turnover : Rs. 3,667 crores
Growth Rate : 20%
Net Profit : Rs. 819 crores

All numbers mentioned here are from papers, paperboards and packaging business.

Area under plantation: 119,000 hectares (social forestry program + farm forestry program)

Also 8,000 hectares of land is under the process of getting certified under the FSC FM certification.

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:
Water : 54.67 kL/ton
Energy : 37.4 GJ/ton

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

ITC Limited’s Climate change and sustainable livelihood strategies are in alignment with all relevant missions of the National action plan on climate change:
• National solar mission
• National mission for enhanced energy efficiency
• National mission on sustainable habitat
• National water mission
• National mission for a green India
• National mission for sustainable agriculture
• National mission on strategic knowledge for climate change

Minimising carbon intensity and adopting a low carbon growth path:
• 48% of total energy at the Bhadrachalam plant comes from utilization of bio-fuels.
• Bhadrachalam unit rated as most energy efficient factory of its type in the country by the CSE, New Delhi as per green rating project 2009.
• In 2010, the plantations sequestered 4785 tons of CO2 while the entire operations of ITC Limited, including the other divisions released 1709 tons of CO2 – Carbon Positive for 5 years in a row.

Water conservation and management:
• 24.3% reduction in specific water consumption at the Bhadrachalam unit (2010 over 2009).
• 54.8% reduction in specific water consumption at Tribeni unit (between 1999 and 2010).
• 37.6% reduction in freshwater intake at Kovai unit (between 2007 and 2010).
• Modern effluent treatment processes at all units, with effluent quality maintained far better than national standards at all units. Annual reductions are maintained in specific effluent discharge and the discharges are below the stipulated national standard.
• ITC’s watershed projects cover over 51,000 hectares of land and have helped us be Water Positive for 8 years in a row.

Solid waste management:

• ITC Limited has been solid waste recycling positive for 3 years in a row.
• The wealth out of waste initiative in conjunction with the Ramky group, promotes segregation of waste at source and proper recycling. ITC is collecting and recycling 25000 tonnes of waste every year.

Social: Social forestry programme provides free of cost, genetically superior saplings for plantation to tribal farmers. The saplings are designed to survive the harsh conditions and provide farmers with income from wastelands. Till 2010, the program had helped 19,376 households and accounted for 18% of the plantation cover.

Major Developments:
• FSC CoC certification for all four production units: Bhadrachalam, Kovai, Tribeni and Bollaram.
• Two grades of paper featured under WWF check your paper and rated good.
• CII – ITC Greencheck initiative launched to help printers and converters improve their environmental performance.
• WOW initiative in conjunction with National recycling institute to help segregation and collection of waste at source.
• SAP implementation – best IT practices.
• Green boilers introduced to help increased utilization of renewable energy source.
• Agroforestry model launched to help improve farmers with seasonal agriculture to improve productivity of their lands and improve wood supply to industry.

Products Launched:

Omega Series : bio-degradable laminates for paper and board
Trump Card : Black centred board
Digi Art : Specially designed board for digital printing needs.

Export Markets: Over 30 countries

Future Plans: Doubling the production capacity to reach 1 million ton over the next five years.

JK Paper Ltd.

Creating Lasting Impressions

Established : 1962 (JKPM)

Headquarter : New Delhi

Mills : JK Paper Mills: Jaykaypur, Rayagada, Orissa

Central Pulp Mills: Songadh, Gujarat

Branch Offices : New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai

No. of Employees : Around 2600

Installed Capacity : 240,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 286,000 MT
2009-10: 274,000 MT
2008-09: 2,54000 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 1,432.97 crores
2009-10: Rs. 1,299.57 crores

Growth Rate : 17%

Net Profit (PAT) : Rs. 106.42 crores

Net Worth : Rs. 857 crores (as on 30th Sept, 2011)

Area under plantation : 2010-11: 6700 hectares

Total : 81,700 hectares

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:
Water : 69.24 m3
Energy : 1180 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• The company has made continuous efforts to reduce use of water and energy. The waste water generated during production is recycled and reused thus minimizing the fresh water consumption.

• Adoption of modern technology combined with process innovation and continuous improvement through kaizen have led to significant conversation of natural resources besides reducing emission.

• The company has gone for FSC certification which ensures that the raw material used is responsibly harvested.

• Adult literacy model was adopted to spread literacy in the nearby villages.

• Adopted ITI, Ukai under PPP scheme in Gujarat.

• Self help group were initiated with the idea to generate income through different activities like binding, phenyl making, spice processing etc.

• To carry out community development initiatives systematically, an NGO “SPARSH” has been formed.

• Basic health services including free medicines to ST & SC people through health camps have been organized in nearby villages at regular intervals.

Major Developments:

• During the year the expansion program of Rs. 1650 crores project was initiated with the idea of setting up 215,000 TPA Pulp Mill and 165,000 TPA Paper Machine, 55 MW Power blocks with all requisite auxiliaries.

• We became the first company in India to achieve HP’s proprietary ColorLok technology.

Products Launched: Colorlok papers in tie-up with Hewlett Packard, USA

Export Markets: 17 countries spread across South Asia, Middle-East, Africa, Latin America and Europe.

Future Plans: Company will grow in line with market growth rates in its three major product segments viz; Office Papers, Packaging Boards and Coated Papers.

Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Papers Ltd.

To be the market leader in the manufacturing of Eco-friendly world class papers adopting innovative technologies.

Established : 1979

Headquarter : Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Mill : Karur District, Tamil Nadu

Branch Offices : Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Ernakulam, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Secunderabad.

No. of Employees : 1926

.

Installed Capacity :
2010-11: 400,000 MT
2009-10: 245,000 MT
2008-09: 245,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 265,044 MT
2009-10: 245,008 MT
2008-09: 254,903 MT

* PM#3 was commissioned on 19.01.2011 with a capacity of 155,000 MT.

Financials:

Turnover : Rs. 1225.04 crores
Net Profit (PBT) : Rs. 195.14 Crores
Net Worth : Rs. 915.79 crores

Area under plantation: 66,599 acres (total)

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 55 Kl
Energy : 1573 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Since inception, the company has been associating with community development activities of the surrounding villages.

• About 3% of the net profit after tax earned in the previous year is earmarked for CSR activities under 6 broad category viz. Education Sector (20%), Health Sector (10%), Infrastructure (25%), Economic Sector (20%), Environment Sector (20%) and Culture and Heritage (5%)

• Major activities are undertaken in consultation with the local Panchayats. During 2010-11, TNPL has spent Rs 3.24 crores for various CSR activities.

Major Developments:

Mill Expansion Plan (MEP): The company commissioned a new paper machine (PM3) on 19.01.2011 with a capital outlay of Rs 1050 crore. MEP comprises the installation of paper machine 3 of a capacity 155,000 MT, Backward integration of CBP ECF bleach plant, Installation of one power boiler to meet the steam demand and relocation of pith yard and stores building.

• The company is currently implementing three schemes:

• Installation of a 300 TPD new state-of-the-art De-inking Plant. The plant will be commissioned by May 2012.

• Revamping of power and steam system to improve energy efficiency and augment for generation. The project will be completed by July 2012.

• Installation of a 600 TPD Mini Cement Plant to convert the mill solid waste viz. lime sludge and fly ash into high grade cement. The plant will be commissioned by March 2012.

Export Markets: Exported 64,776 MT of Printing and Writing Paper valued at Rs. 259.36 crores to Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Benin, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordon, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philipines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Srilanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen, UAE etc.

Future Plans:

• An on-site Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) plant of 60,000 TPA capacity on Built, Own and Operate (BOO) basis will be established during the financial year 2012-13.

• The company has planned to install a 100 TPD Tissue Paper Plant by March 2014.

West Coast Paper Mills Ltd.

Your partner in progress

Established : 1955

Headquarter : Bangalore, Karnataka

Mill : Dandeli, Karnataka

Branch Offices : Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi,

No. of Employees : 2628

Installed Capacity : 320,000 MT

.

.

Production :
2010-11: 267,005 MT
2009-10: 173,638 MT
2008-09: 173,682 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 1,109.14 crores
2009-10: Rs. 650.50 crores
2008-09: Rs. 662.71 crores

Net Profit (PAT) :
2010-11: Rs. 90.08 crores
2009-10: Rs. 54.70 crores
2008-09: Rs. 90.54 crores

Area under plantation :
2011: 7,908 acres
Total: 29,824 acres

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 95 KL
Energy : 1,433 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• The new machine consumes less water for paper production; investment in ECF pulp production helped rationalise water consumption by 33%. The result – a 78% increase in capacity was accompanied by only a 20% increase in water consumption.

• New chemical recovery plant enhanced chemical recovery efficiency from 95% earlier to 97%, besides reducing chemical consumption.

• New recovery boiler leverages the use of high pressure steam (63 kg at 470ºC compared with 45 kg at 390ºC).

• Employment for farmers equivalent to 450 person-days per acre per annum through forestry initiatives. The company procured 689,000 ton of wood in 2010-11 resulting in a rural income generation of Rs. 281 crore during the year under review.

• The company provided various services to villages in and around Dandeli. Doctors visited these surroundings once a week to provide free medical consultation, medicines and treatment in the company’s 30-bed hospital. The hospital comprises facilities like an operation theatre, X-ray machines, ECG, ultrasonography facilities and physiotherapy units. The company maintained equipped mobile health units.

• Provided cattle fodder and conducted cattle vaccination programmes for villagers.

• Through Dandeli Education Society quality education has been made available to the students of Dandeli and the surrounding areas right from the nursery to the post graduate level. Thanks to the institutions run by Dandeli Education Society this backward tribal area has produced Doctors, Engineers and other professionals in large numbers.

• Bangurnagar Colleges of Dandeli Education Society have introduced job-oriented and skill enhancement courses like computer training, industrial chemistry, microbiology and functional english. The first-of-its-kind four-year B.Sc. Pulp and Paper Science Degree course and M.Sc. (Tech.) programme in Pulp and Paper Science which are basically run on the company’s financial support, produce graduates who are assured of 100% placement in paper and allied industries.

Major Developments: Completed its expansion programme to increase production capacity to 320,000 TPA in May, 2010 at revised project cost of Rs. 1425 crores as against Rs. 1100 crores envisaged earlier.

• A new 800 TPD Fiber Line has been commissioned in February, 2010 to produce bleach pulp with ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) technology to achieve high brightness level 90% plus. This new Fiber Line facilitates to achieve more pulp yield than in the past and consumes less quantity of steam. The effluent generated from this fiber line is far better with reduction in COD as well as colour.

• To cope with the production of 800 TPD bleach pulp, a new 11 TPD capacity chlorine dioxide plant with in-house hydrochloric acid generation plant, oxygen generation plant, additional falling film evaporators, 1100 TPD chemical recovery boiler, 235 TPD capacity new rotary limekiln and modern compact 3500 m3 per day white liquor production capacity causticizing plant have been installed and commissioned.

• A new state-of-the-art double shoe press paper machine has been commissioned in May, 2010 to produce 135,000 TPA of superior quality paper.

• To meet the enhanced steam and power demand for increased production a 125 TPH capacity FBC (Fluidised Bed Combustion) boiler and 34.5 MW capacity double extraction partial condensing turbine have been installed and commissioned in April, 2010.

Products Launched: Copier Paper of 70, 75 and 80 GSM.

Export Markets: Exported 17,962 MT of paper worth Rs. 74.72 crores in first half of 2011-12. Export markets mainly includes Middle East, Africa and South East Asia.

Future Plans: To enhance capacity to 500,000 MT.

The Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd.

Going Green, Going Global

Established : 1964

Headquarter : Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Mills :
Unit APPM: Rajahmundry, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh
Unit CP: M R Palem, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh

Branch Offices : Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi

No. of Employees : 2492

Installed Capacity : 241,000 TPA

Production :
2010-11: 187,233 MT
2009-10: 176,452 MT
2008-09: 177,748 MT

Financials (2010-11) :

Turnover : Rs. 795.93 crores

Net Profit : Rs. 44.94 crores

Growth Rate : 9% on Sales Volume and 21.6% on Turnover

Net Worth : Rs. 578.33 crores

Area under plantation : 115,933 hectares

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water (including surplus pulp) :
Unit APPM – 73.78 KL
Unit CP – 49.8 KL

Energy : 1587 KWH (excludes quantity of consumption meant for sale of Power)

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Distributed 103.7 million saplings which covered a plantation area of 15,000 hectares involving 2,447 farmers. As of 31st March, 2011, APPM has made available 798 million saplings which have been planted in a total area of 115,933 hectares benefiting 41,434 farmers.

• A number of eye camps and cataract operations, including free supply of spectacle, were organized in and around Rajahmundry. Free tailoring and embroidery training facilities were provided to women and youth through APPM developed training centres. In addition, about 300 women underwent a six month training program, which helped them to provide financial support to their respective families.

• Provided formal training to employees in subjects as varied as state-of-the-art pulping process, paper making technology and process, recovery efficiency, boiler operation, quality maintenance management, safety, ERP, employee development, cost and waste reduction, etc.

Major Developments:

• Paper Machine # 6: A 67,000 TPA paper machine imported from Germany was commissioned in May 2010

• Chipper line which enables more homogenous chips which in turn help produce good quality pulp

• A continuous digester that works on low solid and low temperature cooking of chips

• Export of Power: Retrofit of electro static precipitators (ESP) for reduction of emissions

• A two stage oxygen delignification plant followed by an elemental chlorine free bleaching plant

• A non-condensable gas burning system suitable for high volume and low concentration gases

• A chemical recovery system based on high steam economy evaporation and crystallization technology for higher solids concentration

• A recausticizing plant

• A rotary lime kiln

• A 34 MW turbine with a power boiler to supplement captive power

• A diffused aeration system with cooling tower to improve the efficiency of the effluent treatment plant

Products Launched:
Introduced a new 90+ brightness range of papers in a bid to re-establish and grow volumes in both copier and graphic papers:
• Copyrite – India’s first copier with Colourfreeze technology
• Reflection – a premium grade 70 gsm copier
• Andhra Starwhite – a non-surface sized writing & printing paper
• Andhra Skytone – a premium non-surface sized writing and printing paper
• Andhra Primavera – a high end writing and printing paper
• Andhra Royal Silk – a premium grade maplitho paper
• Andhra Hi Brite SG Maplitho – a superior special grade paper

Export Markets: Major markets are Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates etc.

Emami Paper Mills Ltd.

Grow and become leader in the paper segment.

Established : 1981

Headquarter : Kolkata, West Bengal

Mills : Balasore, Orissa & Kolkata, West Bengal

No. of Employees : 520 (Staff), 465 (Worker), 1170 (Contractual)

Installed Capacity : 145,000 MT

.

.

Production :
2010-11: 144,712 MT
2009-10: 142,494 MT
2008-09: 136,869 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 430 crores
2009-10: Rs. 386 crores
2008-09: Rs. 435 crores

Growth Rate : 11.42%

Net Profit (PBT) :
2010-11: Rs. 18 crores
2009-10: Rs. 12 crores
2008-09: Rs. 33 crores

Net Worth :
2010-11: Rs. 196 crores
2009-10: Rs. 182 crores
2008-09: Rs. 175 crores

Area under plantation: 10000 trees planted across the plant in an area of 50 Acres for green belt development. Another 50,000 plants are being planned for plantation in the proposed wood-based plant area adjoining the existing mill.

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 18.06 m3
Energy : 1020 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Conducting regular ayurvedic, homeopathic health camp in nearby villages.

• Arranging Mobile Health Camp for location of 10 Km radius.

• Distributing Exercise Note Book, accessories to nearby 100 schools.

• Helping for infrastructure development in nearby educational institutions.

• Extending helping hand to Orphanage Homes to meet their requirement.

• Construction of road.

• Arranging water Kiosk in summer season.

• Arranging Mass Marriage for poor girls.

• Arranging street light connection in nearby villages.

• Installing Tube well in nearby localities.

• Adoption of tribal village by providing basic amenities like toilets, drinking water facilities, insurance coverage for BPL families, sponsoring children for better education to KITS.

• Feeding poor people with Prasad.

• Providing mid-day meal in orphanage home.

• Activities under implementation includes Setting up an ITC for 250 students; Primary School for local society including employees children for around 500 children; 50 bedded Hospital for local villagers; Addition of block (2nd Floor) in Remuna College (near to factory).

• Fly ash from Power plant captively consumed for brick manufacturing and entire factory construction is carried out with fly ash brick.

• After dewatering of sludge upto 55 dryness and burnt in the FBC Boiler as replacement of coal. Not even a single Kg sludge is disposed off outside the mill.

• Plastic generated in the mill is being sent to Cement plant for burning in their process.

Major Developments:

• Implementation of SAP / ERP with effect from July, 2010.

• Put in place project management team for setting up 185,000 TPA Writing & Printing grades project.

• Started Agro-Forestry Division consisting of 50 members team headed by Vice President level person and covering the area of 300 Km radius consisting of nearby districts of Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand. Plans to cover 60,000 hectare of land under plantation during next 5 years period.

• Setup R&D and Clonal Nursery Centre on 20 acres of land at Nilgiri for producing 10 million clones every year.

• Acquired 230 acres of land adjoining the existing plant location (70 acres area) for its expansion projects.

• Listing of Equity Shares at Bombay Stock Exchange and regular trading started.

Products Launched:

• Pink Newsprint.

• Paper Printing White Prime – 60 / 70 GSM

Future Plans:

• Setting up Wood Based Integrated Pulp & Paper Mill of 185,000 TPA Writing & Printing paper at a project cost of Rs.1575 crores.

• Captive Power Plant of 40 MW for self sufficiency for power requirement.

Trident Ltd.

In Collaboration with Nature.

Established : 1993

Headquarter : Sanghera, Punjab

Mill : Dhaula, Punjab

Branch Offices : USA, New Delhi ,Mumbai & Chandigarh

No. of Employees : 1,339

Installed Capacity : 175,000 MT

.

Production :
2010-11: 136,715 MT
2009-10: 123,639 MT
2008-09: 67,302 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 593.1 crores
2009-10: Rs. 494.2 crores
2008-09: Rs. 302.3 crores

* Turnover for Paper & Chemical business only

Area under plantation: 175.5 acres

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 62 KL
Energy : 1,270 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Formed SHE (Safety, Health & Environment) committee with three task forces which are Safety, Health & Environment.

• Environment friendly product developments – Paper from agri-residue and ECF Technology.

• Practicing 3R’s (reduce, reuse and recycle) and waste management in industrial plants.

• Implemented rain water harvesting to recharge the aquifers.

• Upgradation of Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP).

• Commissioning of a Water Treatment Plant (WTP) resulting in use of surface water by industrial plants in place of ground water and thereby saving ground water of the area.

• Proper treatment of sewerage water through STP (Sewerage Treatment Plant) and use of treated water for plantation.

• Formulation of ASMITA (Women Empowerment Cell) to particularly address the concerns of female members.

• Conducting free Medical Checkup camps to address issues like general health care, gynecological problems, orthopedic issues and other health problems.

• Disaster management initiatives for outside the premises of the company in coordination with civil authorities.

• Provision of residential colonies for operatives at plant sites.

• Organized blood donations camps on a regular basis.

• Funding the rural economy on a large scale and outsourcing of 20 percent raw material from the adjacent areas and villages.

• Imparting education to the females of the adjoining villages on various social issues.

• Training programs for employees from renowned faculties.

• Discussing major initiatives through Large Scale Interactive Process (LSIP) with participation of all the members.

Major Developments:

• Installation of ODL (Oxygen De-lignification’s) stage at wood fiber Line to increase the pulp brightness, reduction in chlorine di-oxide dose and environmental load.

• Installation of Pasaban folio sheeter.

• Installation of ceramic drainage elements at wire part of PM#1 for improving the paper formation.

• Batch system at stock preparation, PM#1, is modified to continuous with DCS control.

• Modification of press felt conditioning system at PM#1.

• Installation of MD Cleaner between primary and secondary screen in SFL plant.

• Installation of continuous sand separator to remove sand in washing stage.

• Modification in washers barometric leg to reduce soda loss and chlorine di-oxide.

• Development of high grade surface sized maplitho paper for high speed heat set web offset machine.

• Environment management system certification, ISO 14001.

• Introduced AKD Sizing with the use of GCC for Alkaline Paper making.

• Introduced polymeric surface sizing for reducing internal sizing and also to improve the printability of surface sized paper.

• Introduced micro particles drainage aid for improving the ash retention and increase in drainage aid, thereby increase in productivity.

• Use of peroxide stabilizer for reducing hydrogen peroxide consumption in bleaching.

• Green liquor addition at recausticizer of recovery causticizing plant to reduce the free lime waste in the mud cake of recovery plant.

Products Launched:

• Premium multi-purpose paper in March 2010

• Trident Natural multi-purpose paper in July 2010

• Crystal Line High Bright in September 2011

Export Markets: Over last 6 months exported 22% production worth Rs. 56.95 crores to USA, UK, France, Greece, Austria, Australia, Albania, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nepal, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, UAE, Uganda, Sudan, Congo, Zambia, Ivory Coast.

Future Plans:

• Stabilizing high brightness paper from wheat straw.

• Focus on water conservation.

• Consolidation of market share in domestic copier market.

• Development of eco friendly wheat straw based copier for US market.

• Development of high bright paper, 92%.

• Introduction of wet GCC in place of Ground Calcium Carbonate to enhance paper machine wire life, opacity and printability.

• Pulping & bleaching studies of alternative fibrous raw materials for both wheat straw & hardwood Street.

Seshasayee Paper & Boards Limited

Fine Papers – Lasting Impressions

Established : 1960

Headquarter : Erode, Tamil Nadu

Mill : Erode, Tamil Nadu

Branch Offices : Chennai, Madurai, Ernakulam, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.

No. of Employees : 1,328

Installed Capacity : 115,000 MT

.

.

Production :
2010-11: 120,558 MT
2009-10: 117,989 MT
2008-09: 119,779 MT

Financials:

Turnover : Rs. 589.74 crores

Growth Rate : 11.49%

Net Profit : Rs. 65 crores

Net Worth : Rs. 366.06 crores

Area under plantation :
2010-11 : 7704 acres
Total : 30,811 acres

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water: 83m3
Energy: 1750 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Drinking Water facilities provided to Neighbouring villages.

• Established Community Health Centres at nearby villages.

• Lift Irrigation Schemes covering 2140 acres of dry and barren lands wherein treated waste water is being used.

• Cauvery Rural Development Centre promoted in Kadachanallur village, Tiruchengode Taluk, to provide employment opportunities to the downtrodden women folk from the neighbouring villages. Activities such as Coir Making, Note Book Manufacturing, Tailoring and Garment Making, are undertaken, in this unit.

• Established Two Churches, a Mosque and a Hindu Temple at SPB Colony.

• Conducting Free Eye Camps, Blood Donation Camps, and Diabetic Check Up Camps.

• Provided land and accommodation for various purposes like hospital, electricity, sub-station, post offices, bank, fair price shops, tailoring & embroidery training centre, crèche, milk distribution.

• CSR Activities in the neighbouring villages includes provision of rain water harvesting, laying of village roads, construction of culverts, street lights, renovation of old village temples, construction of public community toilets, repair and maintenance of burial ghats, construction, deepening & de-silting of storm water drains and strengthening of bunds and farm forestry programme related activities.

• Educational related activities included establishing elementary school, primary school, high school and a matriculation higher secondary school. Besides company regularly contributes to a Polytechnic at Tiruchirapalli, “Seshasayee Institute of Technology” to serve the educational needs of poor and down trodden students.

Major Developments:

• Optimisation of RDH process & ECF bleaching sequence for consistent pulp quality and high brightness.

• Implementation of Alkaline sizing (AKD) for the colored papers.

• Introduction of Direct orange in Binary sizing by replacing acid orange with acid sizing.

• Usage of Polymers additives for improved surface properties on paper.

• Introduction of high bright filler viz., soap stone powder 94% and imported ground calcium carbonate 94% for improved paper brightness and shade.

• Introduction of two-stage causticizing for removal of Silica in the lime sludge and for improving the re-burning of lime sludge.

Products Launched:

• Bristol Board (Light Buff)

• Colour Printing (Canary Yellow)

• Azure Laid success (Deluxe)

• Super White (High Brightness)

• Graphic paper (High Brightness 93%)

Export Markets: Exported 8,773 MT to Srilanka, Nigeria, UAE, Sudan, Jordan, Ghana, Egypt, South Africa.

Future Plans: Capacity Expansion in existing site coupled with enhanced focus on Tree Farming activities.

Rainbow Papers Ltd.

Generating wealth out of waste.

Established : 1986

Headquarter : Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Mill : Kalol-Mehsana Highway, Gujarat

Branch Offices : New Delhi, Mumbai

No. of Employees : 1733

Installed Capacity :
2010-11: 183,000 MT
2009-10: 183,000 MT
2008-09: 102,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 137,496 MT
2009-10: 109,054 MT
2008-09: 85,995 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 385.52 crores
2009-10: Rs. 276.87 crores
2008-09: Rs. 227.03 crores

Growth Rate :
2010-11: 25%
2009-10: 22%
2008-09: 39%

Net Profit (PBT) :
2010-11: Rs. 37.16 crores
2009-10: Rs. 23.59 crores
2008-09: Rs. 23.61 crores

Net Worth :
2010-11: Rs. 285.01 crores
2009-10: Rs. 221.81 crores
2008-09: Rs. 82.99 crores

Area under plantation: Green belt around 80,000 m²

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 11 m³
Energy : 700 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

A new division is planned to set `Rainbow Institute of Technology & Research’ (RITR) for imparting training relating to paper and power projects. This institute would aim in imparting practical job oriented training to technical people about the latest technology in manufacturing of paper and generation of power.

Major Developments:

• PM-7 – Voith paper machine imported from Dachau, Germany having production capacity of 250 MT per day installed in August, 2010.

• PM-8 – Voith make paper machine imported from Dachau, Germany having production capacity of 350 MT per day installed in August, 2011.

• Incorporation of wholly owned subsidiary company in Dubai in the name of “Rainbow Papers JLT”. This subsidiary company will enable the company in prompt international trading of paper, pulp and related products in Gulf countries.

Products Launched:
• Glazed Newsprint
• LWC Paper
• Non-carbon paper
• Thermal Paper
• Brick from fly ash generated as by-product of power plant
• Plain and corrugated Plastic sheets from plastic waste
• Boards from sludge

Export Markets: Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, U.S.A., U.K., France, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Bangladesh.

Future Plans:

• Setting up a 400 TPD Folding Duplex Board Brownfield Project.

• Mill Modernization to add 42,000 TPA capacities

• Downstream integration through end products in packaging, stationery

• Sourcing Offices in UAE and US for Waste Paper

• Tie-ups for trading/representation of international paper brands in India

• Proposed Products includes Folding Duplex Board, Notebooks, Copier Paper.

The Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd

The company’s brand stands for trust, quality, service and customization.

Established : 1938

Headquarter : Gurgaon, Haryana

Mill : Kagaznagar, Andhra Pradesh

Branch Offices : New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Hyderabad

Installed Capacity : 138,300 MT

Production :
2010-11: 93,900 MT
2009-10: 91,126 MT
2008-09: 92,298 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 364.59 crores
2009-10: Rs. 335.49 crores
2008-09: Rs. 346.21 crores

Net Profit (PBT) :
2010-11: Rs. 18.16 crores
2009-10: Rs. 10.44 crores
2008-09: Rs. 1.32 crores

Growth Rate : 8.67%

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Scholarships to 89 students through the SPM Co-operative Society.

• In-plant training to engineering and MBA students from various branches.

• Provided note books to students at subsidised rates.

• Free medical checkups and medicines to employees as well as for the general public through the SPM health centre.

• Conducted monthly free eye camps and cataract operations for the public in general.

• Conducted free medical camps and provided free medicines in the aegis of ESI.

• Provided land for the construction of a government public school building.

• Maintained a children’s park along with cricket and football grounds for employees and the general public.

• Utilised back water to reduce chemical use.

• Stabilised the fibre line effluent treatment system.

• Distributed seedlings of subabul and eucalyptus clones at subsidised rates and covered an area of 2,570 Ha.

Major Developments:

• Installed twin roll press with capacity of 30 TPD.

• Installed an effluent treatment plant.

• Switched from acid sizing to alkaline sizing; alkaline sizing reduced costs and improved paper brightness.

• Introduced cooking aids in cooking to reduce cooking chemical consumption.

• Developed dyes compatible to AKD sizing in machines producing coloured papers.

• Identified and conducted enzyme trials to reduce power consumption during pulp refining.

• Installation of AFBC Boiler in place of old BHEL Recovery Boiler 1 x 50 Ton capacity 32 kg/cm2 at 4500 C.

• Installation of new ATLAS CAPCO Compressors in place of old compressors at Paper Machines.

Future Plans:

• The company’s power requirement is 22-23 MW per day, of which 14 MW is self-generated. The company intends to reduce consumption to 20 MW per day during this financial year and raise power generation efficiency to 20 MW per day, resulting in complete self sufficiency without further capital investments.

• Expects to invest in its existing boiler to plug the prevailing gap in steam and power availability on the one hand and provide a buffer to meet additional requirements whenever needed, on the other.

• In discussion with technology leader Voith to de-bottleneck PM8 and enhance productivity.

• Following successful implementation, the company aims to use ground calcium carbonate and precipitated calcium carbonate fillers to enhance paper quality.

Orient Paper & Industries Ltd.

Raising the Bar…

Established : 1939

Headquarter : Kolkata, West Bengal

Mill :
Amlai – Madhya Pradesh
Brajrajnagar – Orissa
Installed Capacity : Amlai: 110,000 MT
Brajrajnagar: 76,000 MT (Idle)

Production :
2010-11: 52,534 MT
2009-10: 53,589 MT
2008-09: 65,132 MT

.

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 287.90 crores
2009-10: Rs. 287.88 crores
2008-09: Rs. 362.30 crores

Growth Rate : 16.32%

* Turnover & Growth Rate are for paper & tissue business.

Net Profit (PAT) :
2010-11: Rs. 143.10 crores
2009-10: Rs. 159.30 crores

* PAT of OPIL including all divisions.

Area under plantation : 2010-11: 1,448 ha

Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper : 1828 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Provided highly subsidized education to over 3,307 students in primary and secondary schools.

• Provided free education to 600 students studying in Telugu medium school at Devapur.

• Provided subsidies of Rs. 1.4 cr to the schools at Devapur and Amlai in addition to free infrastructure, residential accommodation and power, among others.

• Provided free notebooks to 762 students in villages surrounding Amlai.

• Distributed free uniforms, books, lunch boxes and other material to underprivileged students of various schools in Devapur and Amlai.

• Organised safety exhibitions and training programmes for school students, housewives and local community members.

• Conducted a HIV and AIDS awareness programme.

• Supplied 2,780 tankers of drinking water to villages around Amlai and Devapur.

• Distributed 3.62 million high yielding clonal saplings to farmers of Amlai and nearby districts, encouraging them to cultivate saplings to enhance land and farmer productivity.

• Provided free outpatient consultancy to around 200 patients per day in our hospital and dispensary at Amlai and Devapur.

Major Developments:

• Increased tissue paper exports from 744 MT in 2009-10 to 4,527 MT in 2010-11.

• Increased clonal production for plantations from 1.3 million in 2009-10 to 3.62 million.

• It has increased its tissue paper production capacity from 10,000 TPA to 25,000 TPA in the last two years and acquired a caustic/chlorine plant, resulting in backward integration.

• Reduced water consumption from 8 MGD in 2009-10 to 6 MGD.

• Switched from acid to alkaline sizing, reducing chemical costs, improving paper quality (opacity and strength) and lowering water consumption.

• Stabilized new pulp washing street, resulting in enhanced pulp quality and compliance with environmental norms.

• Achieved savings in chlorine and water consumption and reduction of AOX by efficient oxygen delignification (ODL).

Export Markets:

Sri Lanka, China, French Polynesia, Ghana, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, UAE, Thailand, Cyprus, UK, Australia, the USA, Nigeria and Nepal.

Future Plans:

• Setting up of 55 MW power plant at Amlai to fully cater to the requirements of both the paper and caustic chlorine plants at an investment of Rs. 174 crores.

• Expected to expand central nursery with a benching system to enhance clonal sapling production to 10 million by 2013-14.

• Full capacity utilization of the second tissue paper plant, by installing the second rewinder.

Murli Industries Ltd.

Established : 1991

Headquarter : Nagpur, Maharashtra

Mill : Nagpur, Maharashtra

No. of Employees : over 3000

Installed Capacity : 208,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 97,044 MT
2009-10: 88,323 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 280.82 crores
2009-10: Rs. 201.46 crores

Net Profit (PBT) :
2010-11: Rs. (-) 80 crores (loss)
2009-10: Rs. 1.42 crores

* Paper Business only

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• A significant portion of the recycled water is reused in plant operations which has resulted in cutting down on the consumption of fresh water by the company.

• The company has volunteered to initiate plantation drive in its immediate neighbourhood.

• Energy’s conservation measures initiated across the company’s businesses have resulted in significant savings and helped partially offset the inflationary trend in the fuel/electricity costs.

Major Developments:

• SBS Board unit of 250 TPD capacity commenced production.

• Cement Unit established with a capacity of 3 million tons.

• Power Plant at Chandrapur with a capacity of 50 MW to cater the power requirement of Cement Unit.

Export Markets: Bangladesh, Srilanka, Malaysia, Dubai and Thailand.

Future Plans: To become a global player

ABC Paper Ltd.

Operating in a cost effective manner through environmentally sustainable practices for the welfare of all around.

Established : 1980

Headquarter : Chandigarh

Mill : Saila Khurd, District Hoshiarpur, Punjab

No. of Employees : 1,334 (Staff: 359 and Workers: 975)

Installed Capacity :
2010-11: 104,000 MT
2009-10: 50,000 MT
2008-09: 50,000 MT

.

Production :
2010-11: 79,980 MT
2009-10: 60,553 MT
2008-09: 54,277 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 318.96 crores
2009-10: Rs. 220.93 crores
2008-09: Rs. 209.17 crores

Growth Rate :
2010-11: 44.37%
2009-10: 5.62%
2008-09: 13.15%

Net Profit (PBT) :
2010-11: Rs. 10.26 crores
2009-10: Rs. 9.36 crores
2008-09: Rs. 21.00 crores

Net Worth :
2010-11: Rs. 85.20 crores
2009-10: Rs. 76.48 crores
2008-09: Rs. 67.78 crores

Area under plantation : 104 Acres.

Also started a nursery of clonal varieties of fast growing species, and are spreading the acreage under plantation in the surrounding areas by distributing these saplings to the farmers.

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 77m3
Energy : 1227 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Developed and implemented the process for the biomethanation of alkaline sulphite black liquor first time.

• Adoption of lignin recovery process. The recovered lignin is used in various consumer industries such as concrete, ceramics, animal feed, phenolic resins.

• Sponsorship of R&D projects to Universities and Institutes for the development of eco-friendly processes.

• Quality education for local children through a public school run and managed by the mill management in the local village at subsidized fee.

• Free medical Check-up and awareness camps in the surrounding villages.

• Blood donation camps in the industry’s premises.

• Free supply of drinking water in the vicinity of the mill.

• Vocational training to students from various institutes such as ITI, Engineering Colleges etc. in the mill.

Major Developments:

Undertaken and completed a Rs. 200 crores expansion and modernisation program by setting up

• Paper Machine IV – 280 TPD with production speed of 750 MPM, Deckle length of 3,870 mm having GSM range of 45-90. The company is now able to manufacture SS Maplitho paper

• Wood Pulp Street – 60 TPD pulp line with hardwood/bamboo as raw material.

• Chemical Recovery Plant.

• Co-Generation Power Plant: Back Pressure Turbine of 74 TPH steam capacity capable of generating 10.0 MW power based on bio-mass fuels (i.e. rice husk, baggase, baggase pith, saw dust and fire wood chip) has been installed.

Products Launched : Superprint (2010)

Future Plans: A capital outlay of close to Rs 55 crore in various upgradation projects is being planned towards improving product quality, introduce value added products, reduce cost of operations and achieve a distinction in conserving environment.

• Film Press at PM IV
• Top Former at PM IV
• Upgradation of PM 2
• Double Stage Wet Washing System
• Chlorine Dioxide Bleaching plant
• Screw Press at Hard Wood Street
• Change of Vacuum Pumps PM # 4
• Replacement of Soot Blowers in the Boiler Bank Zone
• Flash Calcination of Lime Sludge for Recovery/Regeneration of Lime

The Mysore Paper Mills Ltd.

Established : 1937

Headquarter : Bangalore, Karnataka

Mill : Bhadravati, Karnataka

Installed Capacity : 105,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 76,658 MT
2009-10: 81,079 MT
2008-09: 109,271 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 295.15 crores
2009-10: Rs. 282.61 crores

Net Profit :
2010-11: Rs. (-) 84.78 crores (loss)
2009-10: Rs. (-) 77.23 crores (loss)

Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper : 2071 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• The forest wing has supplied 131,206 MT of pulpwood by harvesting about 3381 ha. of captive plantations during 2010-11. In all, 2441.85 ha. of harvested plantation areas were regenerated by replanting/coppicing with species like acacia hybrid (901.75 ha.), eucalyptus pellita (435 ha.), eucalyptus camaldulensis (1092.10 ha.) and miscellaneous species (13 ha.).

• The farm forestry programme was continued by selling about 12 lac seedlings and by entering in to a buy-back agreement with farmers wherever they have availed seedlings @ 50% of the selling rate.

• The programme of raising large scale clonal plants of eucalyptus species in dry-zone nurseries has been started which will double the present yield from average 30 MT/ha. to over 60 MT/ha. in dry zone.

• The company has well defined health and safety policy periodical training programmes on safety, fire fighting, etc., are being conducted. Health check-ups, health awareness programmes by specialised doctors are being held from time to time.

Major Developments:

• Along with the implementation of IMS (Integrated Management System), the management has adopted

• Energy management plan with focus on energy conservation.

• Upgradation of steam condensate systems for PM-3 & PM-4.

• Commissioning of blow heat recovery system and new pulp screening systems in chemical Pulp Mill-II.

• Commissioning of single cell cooling tower in evaporator.

• Civil work for installation of rotary lime kiln.

• Online condition monitoring system for PM-4.

• Introduction of tri-disc refiners in PM-3.

Products Launched:
• CW – Elegant
• MPM note books

Future Plans: Taken up deinking plant of 200 TPD costing around Rs.125 crores which would help in cost reduction. It is expected that de-inking plant will be commissioned by March 2013.

Star Paper Mills Ltd.

Coming together for brighter future

Established : 1936

Headquarter : Kolkata, West Bengal

Mill : Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh

No. of Employees : 1010

Installed Capacity : 75,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 69150 MT
2009-10: 68,592 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 271.05 crores
2009-10: Rs. 262.25 crores

Net Profit (PAT) :
2010-11: Rs. (-) 10.15 crores (loss)
2009-10: Rs. 8.33 crores

Net Worth :
2010-11: Rs. 126.30 crores
2009-10: Rs. 137.36 crores

Area under plantation :
2011-12: 12,000 ha. (Projected)
Total: 85,168 ha.

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 135 KL
Energy : 1513 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Installation of energy efficient motors & pumps.

• Re-orientation of pulp feeding system for power optimization.

• Organized tailoring and stitching workshop to empower rural women to enable them earn their livelihood.

• Organized seminar on quality of life.

Products Launched: Few new varieties of Maplitho.

Export Markets: Saudi Arabia, Srilanka, South Africa, Ivory Coast etc.

Future Plans: We are in the process of developing new products in line with the market requirements.

Bindal Papers Limited

Eco Friendly Paper Save Tree Save Life

Established : 2009

Headquarter : New Delhi

Mill : Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh

Branch Location : Mumbai

No. of Employees : 300

Installed Capacity : 90,000 MT

Production :
2010-11: 65,550 MT
2009-10: 39,866 MT

Products Launched :
• Ace Maplitho (Surface Size Paper)
• Fine Prints (Copier Paper)

Export Markets: Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Italy, Bulgaria, Phillipins, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Austria, Nepal, Sharjah, Georgia and various African countries.

Future Plans: Expand more network and international clients.

Servalakshmi Paper Ltd.

Eco- friendly Paper for everlasting impressions.

Established : 2005

Headquarter : Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Mill : Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu

No. of Employees : 349

Installed Capacity : 90,000 MT

Production: 47,643 MT

* 15 months figure: 1 Apr, 10 to 30 Jun, 11

.

Financials:

Turnover : Rs. 133.08 crores
Net Profit : Rs. (-) 53.65 crores (loss)
Net Worth : Rs. 116.02 crores

* 15 months figure: 1 Apr, 10 to 30 Jun, 11

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 25 KLT
Energy : 950 KWH

Major Developments: Obtained FSC certificate since October 2010. We have been FSC certified under all the three systems.

Products launched: Lakshmi Offset Printing / Lakshmi Newsprint

Export Markets: Sri Lanka, African countries.

Future Plans: Planning production of various maplitho varieties and cut size copier.

Pudumjee Pulp & Paper Mills Ltd.

Established : 1968

Headquarter : Mumbai, Maharashtra

Mill : Thergaon, Pune, Maharashtra

Installed Capacity : 42,500 MT

Production :
2010-11: 33,949 MT
2009-10: 34,613 MT

.

.

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 225.35 crores
2009-10: Rs. 217.99 crores

Net Profit (PAT) :
2010-11: Rs. 8.11 crores
2009-10: Rs. 10.27 crores

Net Worth :
2010-11: Rs. crores
2009-10: Rs. crores
2008-09: Rs. crores

Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper: 1853 KWH

Major Developments:

• With a view to partly cater to the company’s power requirement, a wind power project at Sadawaghapur in Maharashtra having capacity of 2.5 MW has been commissioned in March this year.

• Acquired a unit having land of about 75 acres at Mahad, District Raigad in Maharashtra. The company proposes to set up a paper / board manufacturing facility at a cost of about Rs. 100 crores.

• Installation of silent drive in dryer in group of paper machine.

• Improvement in quality of existing products with the use of specialty chemicals, alternate furnish, fillers & pigments etc.

• Cost Reduction by substituting partly recycled pulp for virgin fiber, use of alternate dyes & specialty chemicals.

• Conservation of natural resources via replacing virgin fibers with recycled paper pulp in certain paper grades.

Products Launched: Development of new grades of paper like release base paper, white print base paper, transfer paper bake oven paper, cigarette paper etc.

Future Plans:
• Utilisation of flash steam, insulation of bare/spoiled steam pipe lines.
• Replacement of aeration System by diffusor system at ETP.
• Replacement of ETP higher capacity pumps by optimum capacity pumps.
• Replacement of old motors by energy efficient motors.
• Cost reduction through use of alternative chemicals for surface improvement etc.
• Development of new value added products.

Yash Papers Ltd.

Focusing on today. Working towards tomorrow.

Established : 1981

Headquarter : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Mill : Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh

No. of Employees : 899

Installed Capacity : 39,100 MT

Production :
2010-11: 31,642 MT
2009-10: 30,201 MT
2008-09: 31,206 MT

Financials:

Turnover :
2010-11: Rs. 103.10 crores
2009-10: Rs. 83.87 crores
2008-09: Rs. 88.01 crores

Growth Rate : 22.93%

Net Profit :
2010-11: Rs. 3.05 crores
2009-10: Rs. 0.08 crores
2008-09: Rs. (-) 2.14 crores (loss)

Net Worth :
2010-11: Rs. 23.84 crores
2009-10: Rs. 36.08 crores
2008-09: Rs. 36.15 crores

Water & Energy Consumption Per Ton of Paper:

Water : 85 KL
Energy : 1,110 KWH

Steps towards Environment, Society & Employee Welfare:

• Our KK Charitable Foundation has three aims: education, sanitation and employment.

• We run two educational institutions in the plant vicinity – Yash Technical Institute, which is a vocational training centre, and Yash Vidya Mandir, a school for the children of factory workers and the village children.

• Providing quality education training for improvement in the learning levels of villages. We encourage educated youth to participate in the teachers training programmes developed by us, and provided free of charge. The trained teachers are then encouraged to return to their villages and impart education.

• We have built many toilets in individual houses in our surrounding villages. Our aim is to build 10,000 toilets in our surrounding areas by the year 2020.

• Run many training programs to enable self employment and entrepreneurship skills in the poor communities around us. Also running many training programs for villagers, like a sewing workshop for village women, where training is imparted, and then work is provided to them.

• Reinforced rural infrastructure – roads, wells, lighting arrangements and medical camps. Also initiating large-scale plantation programs to promote farm forestry, this would result in a win-win situation for future pulp needs of the company and income for the local farmers.

Products Launched:

• Super Deluxe Plain and Ribbed Kraft Papers (SDP/ SDR)
• Eco Pouch Base (EPB) for eco-friendly pouch packing.
• Coated Glossy Plain (Chromo)
• KCP – Kraft Chocolate Paper

Export Markets: Sri Lanka, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain, South Africa, Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, Mauritius, Australia

Future Plans:

• Focus on the manufacture of customised products.

• Drive the sales of eco-friendly sachet packaging paper used in gutkha paper pouches and snacks.

• Modify existing paper grade properties to strengthen customer-friendliness.

• Rework paper machine engineering to improve paper quality.

• Install dandy roll to improve paper formation and physical properties.

• Work on front-line research by exploring micro fibrillar cellulose and nano fibrillar cellulose in collaboration with CTP Schwabmuchen, Germany and Dr. Bruce Lyne of Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Surface and Corrosion Science, Stockholm.

• Improve ashmoh binder to generate additional revenues from sales to cement manufacturers.

• Strengthen chemical recovery.

• Forge additional tie-ups for raw material resources.

• Augment our environmental compliance through solutions for rice husk ash and lime sludge disposal.

• Spread the green cover and securitise raw material through the planting of 5 lac seedlings annually.

• Incorporate modified versions of wire cloth, felts and specialised chemicals to upgrade paper quality

• Income from carbon emission reduction credits.

The paper manufacturing process generates significant quantities of waste water. The raw waste water from paper and paperboard mills can be potentially very polluting if not treated properly. This survey discusses with the mill owners where they describe the treatment processes which are used to minimize these effects. Also discusses the way in which theses mills determine the process plan for the treatment of liquid wastes from the manufacturing of paper. Besides it also present the viewpoint of various suppliers specializing in solutions related to water and waste water treatment.

.

Mr. MBS Nair, Director - Operations

Emami Paper Mills Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

CPCB has prescribed the norms for the treated waste water before its discharge to the recipient bodies and Indian Paper Mills are known to be religiously following the norms.

Is Indian paper industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

Not at all – many of the mills are going for better and technologically advanced processes for recycling and reusing treated waste water and also many of the mills have invested lot of money in the recent past for improvements of process resulting in less polluted discharge and hence better treated waste water.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

I cannot say that there are any lacking points for Indian Paper Industry in waste water treatment, but obviously there are scope for improvements in waste water treatment and also in Process Technology to reduce fresh water consumption and for recycling and reusing treated waste water as much as possible.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

• The treated waste water should meet the standards as specified by the State and Central Pollution Control Boards

• Scope for improvements especially for reducing fresh water consumption

• Development and improvement in process technology to reduce the problems at source itself.

.

Mr. Sanjeev Jain, Managing Director

Maxim Specialty Chemicals Pvt Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

Indian Paper Industry, which is one of the most water intensive industries, has never been so focused on water reuse as we have seen in last one decade or so. Further, the scarcity of fresh water coupled with stricter environmental standards associated with waste water effluents from paper mills made “water conservation” has become a key objective of paper mills. So this very objective of water conservation led mills to use various water treatment methods which include mechanical, chemicals and very recently enzymatic treatments.

Is Indian paper industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

Indian Paper Industry’s overall approach towards water treatment has taken a new dimension in recent times in view of energy cost associated with over usage of water and tighter environmental standards. However that doesn’t imply that all the paper mills have started taking water treatment as seriously as it should have been as most of them still resort to traditional way of treating their Fresh, Boiler, Cooling and Effluent water by treating them with only basic organic and inorganic chemicals which may not be very effective methods. However all this is changing as water now has become as precious as raw material so therefore mills have started looking at various water treatment technologies for its maximum reuse and in few cases, they target Zero Liquid Discharge aka “ZLD” a popularly coined term in paper mills nowadays.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

I believe that water treatment in Indian paper mills is still at a primitive stage which is now slowly changing due to reasons already mentioned above. Indian paper industry, at large, has never been very water sensitive industry until recently due to which it never got desired exposure to various water treatment methods especially specialty chemical treatments. Also paper industry in India always considered water treatment cost as an extra burden which they could live without. So, therefore the Indian paper industry is lacking a systematic approach towards water treatment ways and means.

In my personal opinion, mill should generally start with a proper water audit across its various processes in order to understand water footprints and various parameters against industry benchmarks. Having this water audit done by some water expert will certainly help in making more precise assessment. Once this part is over, mill can look at various water treatment methods based on their techno-commercial feasibility.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

The following factors are most important while selecting overall process plan for waste water treatment:

• The degree of water closure.

• The influent and desired effluent parameters.

• All available waste water treatment technologies to achieve those two parameters as described in point no 1 & 2.

• The cost associated with each treatment method.

.

Mr. AK Bansal, Group President - Technical

Gayatrishakti Paper & Boards Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

Truly speaking, there are no firm standards being adopted by paper industry. Leaving aside some good paper manufacturing units, all others are running their treatment plants in a very non technical way. This results into wastage of precious fresh water.

Is Indian paper industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

Yes definitely.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

Knowledge is lacking with regard to water treatment in Indian paper industry. Environment engineers are not being appointed for the treatment plant in many mills. In fact treatment plants are given the last priority in the mills. This can be improved with right thinking and by making people more aware about the importance of waste water treatment plants. Treating the waste water adds money to the profits and it is rightly said “waste is money and not the waste”.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

The main factors to be kept in mind are:-

• What is the volume of the waste water to be treated?

• What are the impurities present in the water?

• What quality of treated water is required?

This all will give the guidance to design the suitable water treatment plant.

.

Mr. Ajay Adnala, Director

Tellabs Chemicals Pvt Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

The general water generation standards in Indian Paper Industry are a follows:

1. Large pulp & paper mills: 175 m³/tonne of paper produced in comparison to the global standard of 80 to 100 m³/tonne.

2. Small pulp & paper

a. Agro-residue based: 150 m³/tonne of paper produced in comparison to the global stand of 80 to 100 m³/tonne.

b. Waste paper based: 50 m³/tonne of paper produced.

Is Indian paper industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

Yes, I feel the Indian Paper Industry is conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment. Except for a few large mills most mills lack adequate treatment facilities.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

In majority of the paper mills, the equipments are very old and efforts for modernization are totally lacking which causes the increase in the level of pollutants. The effluent generated in this industry contains very high raw cellulosic material resulting in high levels of COD and color. The pollutant load by small and medium paper mills is also very high due to lack of commer-cially viable chemical recovery system.

To improve this situation industry must adopt production process control technologies to reduce effluent volume and pollutant load discharge. These process control technologies can be incorporated:

• Segregating cooling water discharge and reuse.

• Vacuum pump seal water collection and reuse.

• Caustic area spill collections for recovery and recycle.

• Spill collection in the evaporator, recovery, causticising, liquor storage, brown stock, paper machine and bleach plant areas for recycle.

• Evaporator surface condenser to replace barometric condenser to facilitate reuse of condensates in mill.

• Evaporator boil-out tank for collection of weak black liquor for recycle to chemical recovery.

• Lime mud pond to reduce total suspended solid discharges in white liquor clarification and mud washing area.

• High pressure showers for wire and felt cleaning save 90% of the water used in conventional shower applications.

• Improvement in fibre recovery systems by installing new vacuum disc filters which enables the reuse of clear water in high pressure showers, dilution, chemicals preparation etc.

• White water storage for wire cleaning showers, pulp dilution and bleach plant washing.

• Rejects separation using sidehill screen from pulp and paper mill cleaners, pressure and centrifugal screens eliminates up to 40 percent of solids to the treatment plant from these sources separated, rejects fit for landfill disposal.

• Oxygen delignification incorporated before bleaching sequence facilitates caustic extraction effluent recycle, for chemical recovery. (Oxygen delignification/bleaching results in a BOD reduction of 81 percent and a colour reduction of 89-92 percent in bleach plant effluent and a BOD and colour reduction of 30 and 50 percent, respectively, in total mill effluent).

• Advanced brown stock washing systems like twin drum washers, diffusion washers etc reduce the usage of water in the washing section of a mill.

• Adopting hot stock screening and cleaning in the pulp mill section further reduces the usage of water and also reduces the wastage of black liquor.

Most of the above technologies are being used in many of pulp and paper industries abroad and have resulted in reducing the effluent volume and pollutant load discharge.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

• A management with 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) policy with respect to water usage.

• Upgradation of production process control technology should result in efficiency in production with concurrent waste reduction at source.

• A comprehensive plan enabling the paper mills, specially small and medium units to modernize their plant and machinery so as to minimize the effluent generation at various stages of production.

.

Mr. RC Johari, Unit Head - Technical

Trident Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

Is Indian paper industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

• The paper industries are very much conservative in adopting the right technology. The cost involved in new technology is too much expensive in present scenario of paper business competition.

• Most of paper industries are using conventional technology of surface aerators having low oxygen transfer efficiency.

• The technology is advancing towards diffuse aeration having higher oxygen transfer rates. Industries are marching forward to adapt this technology. Few paper mills have already installed such technology and some are in the process of putting.

• The industries are also adopting Bio-methanation plants for washing section/high COD streams.

• Lots of research & technology is required in commercial implementation of tertiary treatment of color removal and RO system on final treated effluent.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

• High cost in tertiary treatments i.e. RO and color removal.

• Color removal from final treated water is major challenge in paper industries. After color removal water can be utilized in process.

• More emphasis should be given in reduction of fresh water usage by adopting better recycling and reuse of water.

• The financial help from government / developed countries to implement the expensive technology in waste water treatment can be encouraging step like Carbon Credit.

• Use of latest waste reuse and recycle equipments and new system that can be installed within pulp and paper technological process without changing process equipments. These systems allows producer to reuse, reduce, and recycle.

• Companies should develop several technological advancements for water reuse such as multi barrier filtration system, membrane bio reactors, Nano filtrations and reverse osmosis (RO) and rapid sand filtration etc.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

• Select the latest technologies of diffused aeration.

• The main input in waste water treatment plant is power. Select the plant so that pumping cost is minimized by designing the WWT plant on level gradient.

• Differentiate high COD streams and install Bio-methanation plant to convert waste in to energy.

.

Mr. Jagdeep Hira, Vice President - Operations

ABC Paper Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

Existing standards are not very competitive, the other day some delegates from Taiwan were sharing about discharge norms, they were 30 BOD & 50 COD, whereas in India it is 10 times more. We are just managing the Pollution Board rather than getting ourselves satisfied.

Is Indian paper industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

Very true, adoption of right technology is still a dream in the Indian paper industry. Actually we see every project as a payback item & when it comes to water conservation the same comes under least priority, we always seek the shortest route & low investment cost technology adoption.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

Getting in the best technology available in industry along with bringing in more vendors who are total solution provider.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

• Minimizing water consumption without quality deviation.

• Maximize the reuse of process water.

• Logical treatment of fresh water.

.

Mr. HK Khanna, Sr. Vice President - Business Development

Krofta Engineering Ltd

Water Treatment Standards in India

The standards prevailing in water treatment in Indian Paper industries are very high which is approximately 50m3/tonne in waste paper based paper mills and 100 m3/tonne of paper for agro-waste based paper industries.

Is Indian paper Industry conservative about adopting the right technology for water treatment?

Indian paper industries are conservative in adopting the new technologies available for water treatment because of the cost factor. They are reluctant to invest money on water treatment as they say that there are no returns to the industry in this process.

Lacking in water treatment in India and how this can be improved?

Indian paper industry should adopt the new technologies for water treatment for primary, secondary and tertiary treatment to make a close loop system for the industry and they should look into this area to reduce the water consumption to less than 5 m3/tonnne of paper which is possible to achieve with the equipments available leading technology & equipment providers.

Factors to be kept in mind while selecting the overall process plan of waste water treatment?

We should keep the internal process of manufacturing in mind and reutilization of the waste water fibers in the system and the clarified water should be given tertiary treatment so that it can be reutilized back in the system for water, energy and fiber.

F

F

Fillers play an important role in paper manufacturing and helps in saving cost and improving various properties of paper. We took views from few industry experts in the field of fillers on various subjects including application of different fillers, what value addition these fillers can make to particular properties of paper, are there any wrong perceptions in the minds of consumers with regard to various fillers (like its applications, benefits, cost, suitable scale) and a comparison between various kinds of fillers.

Mr. Bhagwandas Bhojwani
Managing Director
Imerys Minerals (India) Pvt Ltd

Application of Fillers in Indian paper industry

Talc has historically been the dominant filler pigment. However, by 2010 carbonates have become the major filler pigment as new GCC and PCC plants became operational. In the current market scenario talc is finding its most competitive use in the plastic and cosmetic industries. Over‐mining and flooding of old mines has led to a fall in quality in recent years (higher abrasive contamination), leading to less quantity of paper grade talc available.

Talc is losing its ground to carbonates due to recent changes in processes from acid to neutral and alkaline papermaking conditions, which has other cost and quality benefits to the paper maker. Paper properties such as brightness, opacity, print quality, as well as machine runnability, need to improve in order to match imported competitive papers.

Recent years have seen step changes in papermaking practices in order to meet these demands, and this has generated a move toward calcium carbonate based fillers. This is especially true for uncoated woodfree (UWF) papers.

Value Addition from Fillers

Fillers add tremendous amount of value to paper and its properties. Quality improvements, economic factors and sustainability all create a drive towards using higher mineral filler levels in paper. Fillers would normally help in the following:

• Fiber replacement leading to direct cost savings

• Opacity

• Brightness, if the filler is brighter than the pulp

• Smoothness

• Reduction in printing strike through

• Uniformity in printing ink receptivity.

General wrong perceptions related to Fillers

In general most papermakers want to replace fiber without affecting any of its properties. In the quest for the same, sometimes they use fillers which are not suitable to be used for the kind of furnish, process and machine configuration leading to wrong results and thus wrong perceptions. They need to be properly guided for the selection of the right pigment for their use.
One of the major wrong perceptions in the minds of consumers is with regard to GCC being abrasive and difficult to retain. This is not completely true for all the GCC and now with the advanced processing technology it is possible to produce high quality wet ground carbonates that are easier to retain and lower in abrasive nature. These products have a much lower impact on the life of paper machine equipment and clothing than dry ground products, or even early technology wet ground GCC.

A comparison between various kinds of fillers

Following table gives a good picture of various properties of different fillers.

F

Mr. S Mahajan
President
Wolkem Group

Application of Fillers in Indian paper industry

Indian paper industry has been using talc as fillers for decades but focus on quality is relatively low. There is more emphasis on lower price of filler per ton of paper rather than its effect per ton of paper. There is need to refocus on quality and benefits of filler addition. With the advent of high capacity, high speed paper mills, focus to make world class paper; large number of paper mills in India have either already switched over or are in the process of switching to the usage of carbonate fillers.

Value Addition from Fillers

Fillers can enhance number of properties of paper particularly brightness, bulk, opacity, gloss, strength, porosity, printability etc

General wrong perceptions related to Fillers

There are misconceptions in the minds of many consumers that carbonates are not good fillers. With change of technologies the only shortcoming of carbonates with respect to abrasion has been resolved and carbonates are being used world over as excellent fillers replacing majority of talc as filler.

A comparison between various kinds of fillers

Main fillers are talc and carbonates. Carbonates consist of GCC, WGCC and PCC. The critical parameters in selection of Fillers to improve the paper quality are:-

Brightness: Higher the brightness better the paper quality and helps in reduction in usage of whitening agent (OBA).

Retention: Higher the retention better it is as it reduces paper production cost.

Particle size: Helps better drainability and consequent reduction in steam consumption.

Particle shape: Affects Abrasion values. Lower the abrasion value longer the wire-life.

F

Mr. Mark R. Daigle
Business Support & Development Manager
Specialty Minerals Inc.

Application of Fillers in Indian paper industry

The landscape here in India is still quite different and change is inevitable and the model for growth will be set by the larger producers. The Indian market will attract International papermakers to develop a stake in the growth opportunity. These companies are expected to bring along the newest technology, both in form of machinery and raw materials, including the type of white pigments used in traditional mature markets. Until recently, the very small scale of mills in India meant that a papermaker’s filler choices were restricted to various grades of talc and some ground calcium carbonate. The growth of domestically produced coated and uncoated papers has made the market more attractive for setting up GCC operations, and the larger second-hand and new machines coming on stream have increased mill capacities to levels that support precipitated calcium carbonate. I’m certain that talc will be used for some time to come, but India is now moving quickly to the fillers mainly used in the rest of the world, namely PCC and some GCC.

Value Addition from Fillers

There is certainly significant value obtained by using calcium carbonates, and we believe that given the fact domestic limestone deposits are not of the highest quality, there is even further impetus to benefit from the value of PCC. Both GCC and PCC can deliver higher brightness to the papermaker, but that is generally where the similarities end. Synthetically-produced PCC is filler that can be better tailored to suit the papermaker’s specific needs. PCC provides outstanding opacity, and most importantly, it allows a user to retain more of the bulk that is lost when fiber is replaced with filler for cost savings. PCC’s bulk advantage allows papermakers to reduce fiber consumption between 3% and 5 % compared with GCC or talc. We have also seen GCC supplies that are generally available in India to be significantly more abrasive to machinery and paper machine clothing such as forming fabrics than PCC – as much as 5 to 10-fold. The increased consumption of wet-end chemicals that come with using PCC is quickly offset by the performance advantage and overall savings, while replacing more fiber than what GCC or talc can offer.

General wrong perceptions related to Fillers

I think that the consumers are generally quite well informed about filler properties and applications. With PCC, we sometimes run into the perception that satellite-based product supply is only viable in very large scale installations, or that its use with certain furnishes or wet-end chemistries will lead to problems on the machine. In such cases, there is a need to share knowledge and couple this with the paper producer’s site specific conditions to answer questions and develop solid implementation plans. As a matter of fact, we recently commissioned a rather small scale 15,000 ton per year plant in India.

There are limitations to the amount of filler that can be used and these are often very mill specific. The amount of filler in the sheet is often based on a complex series of decisions where fiber cost, paper machine efficiency and customer requirements intersect. With the demand for paper growing rapidly in India and the difficulty satisfying wood-fiber demand, the pressure to use more filler will only intensify. This will, in turn, drive producers to embrace fillers and technologies that are best able to offset the limitations of more highly filled paper, such as loss of bulk, loss of wet web or dry strength and increased dusting tendency with printers & end users.

A comparison between various kinds of fillers

There is a wealth of literature available that compares the typical properties of talc, ground calcium carbonate, precipitated calcium carbonate, clay and other lesser used fillers. Further, each filler producer can provide with detailed specifications on its products and make specific recommendations given mill grade requirements and economics. One aspect that is often not considered however is the role that consistency, uniformity of particle size and reliability play in papermaking. With the leading papermakers laboring to incorporate 20% to 30% filler in the sheet, minimizing variability is crucial. This is an aspect of filler supply that has yet to be replicated outside the sphere of a dedicated on-site filler plant operated by a knowledgeable partner. While considered by many to be a commodity, like it or not, the increasing drive to increase filler use for cost, quality, or environmental reasons demands the papermaker’s attention and confidence in his supplier.

Mr. Paul Brown, President, International Paper India

In a move which is being noticed by the global paper industry, International Paper made the first acquisition by an overseas company in India by acquiring Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd (APPM). IP has entered into agreements with Mr. L.N. Bangur, and related family members and affiliates to purchase approximately 53.5 percent of the outstanding shares of Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Limited for approximately USD 257 million in cash. In addition, IP has agreed to a USD 62 million non-compete payment to them.

Paper Mart: Highlight your strategy for India giving an overall view. How will you be using the existing infrastructure of APPM?

Paul Brown: The Indian market is one of the fastest-growing markets for paper and packaging in the world. India has 15 percent of the world’s population, but consumes less than 2 percent of the world’s paper. The rapid economic growth, combined with advances in education infrastructure and the burgeoning middle-class will bolster the growth of paper consumption in India over the next several years. We view this transaction as a two-way street. APPM gives us a strong foothold in this growing market and also an opportunity to optimize its existing operations. International Paper has a proven track record of bringing global best practices in operational excellence, industrial safety & social responsibility into our emerging market investments, and we intend to do the same in India with APPM.

Paper consumption in India is projected to grow more than 5 percent per year, and packaging is projected to grow more than 8 percent per year. Our priority is to optimize APPM’s existing operations to fulfill the growing domestic demand.

A key benefit of APPM is the scalability of their existing paper machines, access to raw materials, and physical infrastructure for capacity expansion. In particular, APPM has a unique farm forestry program that encourages farmers to plant casuarina, a fast-growing tree species, in otherwise unusable land. The company helped plant nearly 100 million seedlings last year alone. This is a huge competitive advantage, and will enable us to grow our production with demand.

PM: Through some light on your to do now.

PB: Right now, we are in the process of completing the transaction. We are also using this time to get to know the employees and operations, as well as key customers and suppliers.

PM: What kind of management structure will IP have? Will you be going ahead with the existing team of APPM or do you plan to bring in new faces?

PB: We will be working to determine the overall governance structure, in keeping with India’s corporate governance standards, over the next several months. As President of IP India, I am looking forward to getting to know the APPM leadership and organization. We expect to leave the APPM team intact and augment with IP resources where it can bring greater shareholder value. It’s a well-run company, with very competent management and hardworking employees.

PM: When did you decide to have base in India? Also, take us through the evaluation phase of selecting a potential mill to buy?

PB: International Paper has had an established office in India since 2002, as a platform from which to better understand the Indian paper industry. We were on the lookout for a company that would help us gain a foothold in this growing market. The ask was for an established and reputable company with good assets and access to raw materials. APPM presented that opportunity – it’s a highly respected company in India with good assets, access to fiber and market-leading brands, where our global operating experience can be advantageous.

PM: IP seems to have paid premium to acquire APPM. Your views.

PB: The premium reflects the cost of entry into a high-growth market. We value APPM as a strategic entry point into paper and packaging markets in a country of 1.1 billion people and an economy expected to grow near double digits for many years to come. The premium we paid reflects the opportunity to access these growing markets as well as a payment to the Bangur family for a three-year non-compete agreement – Indian law allows a payment of up to 25 percent premium to controlling shareholders as a non-compete payment. APPM has grown EBITDA an average of 20 percent annually over the past five-year period, and we believe it has significant scalability and expansion potential.

Industry Speaks

The recent acquisition of APPM by International paper in India shows that most of the times the Indian paper industry has been undervalued. After this acquisition BILT Paper Plc has kept on hold its IPO in UK for re-rating of the industry. Does this acquisition has really paved way for the Indian paper industry to get image makeover and rather appropriate valuation and might also open up a trend of consolidation in the Indian paper industry? We present here views from the industry on this subject.

Mr. Madhukar Mishra, Managing Director, Star Papers Ltd & President, IPMA

Indian Paper Industry has been considerably undervalued. Recent investment by International Paper has succeeded in highlighting this to the investors community in India. Considering that Indian Paper Industry enjoys better margins than most of the global peers, it deserves even better valuation. Whether it results in consolidation or not, only time will tell. But improved ability of existing players to raise capital at better valuation will certainly boost investment in and growth of the local industry.

Mr. Ajay Goenka, CMD, Rainbow Papers Ltd

The Paper Industry in India is growing at the compounded annual growth rate of over 8% per annum where as the Global Paper Industry isgrowing at 2%. Considering the growth India is offering a lot of International players are eyeing to enter India and capture the markets here. For companies from the developed countries it would be strategically better to start having foothold in the developing countries where there are tremendous growth opportunities as their own markets are almost stagnant. To set up a paper manufacturing facility from scratch it would take around 30-36 months as it would include taking legal and environmental clearances as well before setting up a paper mill. In this scenario the best possible option is by way of acquisition of the domestic player.

Even though the valuation given to AP Paper includes Strategic Premium, there are other players in the sector that are at the similar levels in terms of operational efficiencies. The below table shows, other than the scale disadvantage the Indian companies compared to the global players are highly undervalued.

Paper Sector India Global
P/E                                               6-8                               19-21
EV/EBITDA                              5-6                               9-11
RoCE                                          12-1                              3 4-5
Avg. Size                                  38,000 T                    400,000 T

We believe that the Indian Paper Industry was highly undervalued by Investor community and with this type of a transaction, most definitely a Re-rating would be seen in the next couple of months. Further post this transaction we have seen that BILT has also deferred its international equity offering with the expectation that Indian Paper Industry will be re-rated.

Mr. Basantt Khaitan, Managing Director, Wires & Fabriks (S.A.) Ltd

More than under-valuation or over-valuation, I think the concern should be for the ‘right’ valuation. Just the share value or the asset value or for that matter – even the value based on profit projections, can hardly be a justified as sufficient basis for deciding the right value for such industries.

How is the non-finite or the ‘natural’ resources valued? Very difficult to answer – because all natural resources are owned by the government – which has no competition, therefore valuation is arbitrary instead of competitive. Rights to forests, river/ground water consumption rights, lands leases – are not valued competitively.

I believe IP got APPM at the right value because they are sure they can create far more value from the same asset base with their international experience and management benchmarks.

Without doubt this deal has swung open new doors and avenues of consolidation which will lead to a faster pace and quality of growth for the paper industry. It is not only paper manufacturing that will change but the entire supply chain mechanism will be under pressure to become world standard sooner than later.

The huge consumption gap of the present 11kg/capita v/s the 60Kg/capita in China will be bridged with a hop-step & jump in new technology, international standards and economies of scale. For a World leader like IP, the timing seems just right as a green field project would cost them dear in terms of money, time & government clearances.

This augurs well for the industry as a whole for the multi-national flavor will unlock unique opportunities in attracting the best talent – the only source of innovation, which in turn may/will change the face of the Indian paper industry.

Mr. PS Patwari, Executive Director, Emami Paper Mills Ltd.

The acquisition of APPM by International Paper will definitely make over the image of Indian paper industry and valuation of the paper industry in our country has to improve a lot. The trend of consolidation in the Indian paper industry will also start and in fact the discussion on the same lines has already been started.

Mr. Rajiv Sheopuri, BU Head-Materials Science, Invest in Sweden Agency (Embassy of Sweden)

Entry of an international major in the Indian pulp and paper industry was an inevitable development. The question was ‘when’ rather than an ‘if.’ Also an acquisition of an existing Indian company with a strong reputation and substantial assets in the form of land, plant, machinery, organisation, distribution, plantations and goodwill is understandably the preferred route to achieving this objective, rather than setting up a greenfield plant.

We all are familiar with the challenges involved in starting from scratch, especially given all the land acquisition issues faced in India. As in the case of all other major global industries, in the case of pulp and paper also India provides substantial growth opportunities to the ambitious global paper companies like International Paper to seriously eye India from the perspective of meeting their growth objectives by investing in a large and fast growing emerging market.

In the specific case of IP’s acquisition of APPM, I believe this could well be regarded as a potential trendsetter in terms of future investments and may trigger significant developments in the Indian paper industry in terms of future valuations of the existing companies the likely similar overseas investments going forward, all of which could result in transformational changes in terms of the emerging industry and competitive structure, technology and areas like distribution, branding and customer focus.

Mr. Ved P Leekha, Chief Executive, Pundumjee

Recent acquisition of APPM by International Paper at the price paid, has  indeed set the Indian Pulp & Paper Industry thinking on its real valuation.  It does prompt the industry to have a serious re-look of its business and to get an  image makeover.

It would, however, be too simplistic to assume that such a valuation benchmark could be uniformally applied to each entity.  Fundamentally it depends on the overall sustainability of the business.  Crucial elements are, its technology level, economic principle of competition, potential growth opportunities considering availability of various inputs, expanding marketing potential, etc.  Given these basics, consolidation / acquisition are driven by the fact that Pulp and Paper Industry does require very large investments and ofcourse larger size does leverage marketing effectiveness.

To summarize the recent event does prompt the industry to re-think and offers an opportunity for an economic value addition.

The paper industry is said to be growing in line with the GDP of the country. While keeping a optimistic approach and given the expansions which had taken place in recent couple of years which have been more or less absorbed too, the paper industry seems to be growing in almost double digits.

Per capita consumption of paper is too low in India as compared to other countries and stands around 10 kg per person, which offers a huge growth potential for the Indian paper industry. Increase in per capita consumption by 1kg means additional demand of slightly over a million ton of paper.

The idea behind this article is to highlight the key areas where the paper is used and will be used and the segments which drive the demand of paper directly or indirectly and how it will keep growing in future with economic growth of the country.

Keeping this optimism along with the challenges, the Indian paper industry has grown in the past and now the industry has to have a planned growth path so as to overcome the challenges of raw-material availability, manpower, short term over capacity situation, environmental footprint etc.

Education

Education is an important indicator of social develop- ment. It is increasingly becoming the primary determinant of overall development in the emerging knowledge economy and the growth of paper industry too. India has made huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population. However, education is still far behind developing countries such as China or Thailand.

Many new path breaking initiatives have been announced

• HR ministry sought $ 400 billion from Government to pump in Indian Education System for investment during next decade. They plan to build over 30,000 colleges and between 800 and 900 universities by 2020.

• Allocation for education increased by 24% over current year to Rs. 52,057 crore. Rs 21,000 crore allocated to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is 40% higher than Budget for 2010-11.

• SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover the entire country and address the needs of 192 million children in 1.1 million habitations.

• To further improve female literacy rate, the Government has recast the earlier National Literacy Mission as a new programme “Saakshar Bharat”. It was launched in September, 2009 with a target of 7 crore non-literate adults which includes 6 crore women.

Print Media

India is the second largest print market in the world still, with a readership base of over 350 million. At present, there are 69,323 newspapers in the country, according to the Registrar of Newspapers of India. Uttar Pradesh, with the largest number of registrations, accounts for 10,779 newspapers.

India’s newspaper industry generated USD 3.8 billion in sales last year, according to the World Association of Newspapers. Moreover, KPMG says that figure is set to rise by 9 per cent every year over the next four years to USD 5.9 billion (Rs. 25,000 crore) and the magazines would rise to Rs 2000 crores, helped by a rising literacy rate, from a present 68 per cent (compared with 99 per cent in the UK) and a rising population of 1.2 billion that is expected to increase by a further 100m people by 2020.

While PWC says, the Indian print media industry has 28% share in total media & entertainment industry and is projected to grow by 7.4% over the period 2010-14, reaching to Rs. 230.5 billion in 2014 from the present Rs. 161.5 billion in 2009. Magazine publishing is expected to grow at a higher rate of 11.5% as compared with newspaper publishing which is expected to grow at 6.8% for the next five years. This is due to the expected launch of a host of niche magazines who will command higher advertising premium. Regional print market will be the driving force behind the growth of the print media.

Findings of the National Youth Readership Survey, undertaken by NCAER on behalf of the National Book Trust, reasserts that the literate youth display a higher level of confidence in newspapers than TV – while 54 percent of the youth view television for entertainment and 22 percent for news and current affairs, about 63 percent read newspapers to gather news and information on current affairs and only 10 per cent read it for entertainment. Media pundits believe that the print segment in India will continue to enjoy a stronghold despite digital penetration.

Packaging

A major function of packaging is the communication of the product apart from its protection and movement to places. Three-quarters of all finished goods require a package. Packaging is used everywhere from pin to plane such as FMCG, consumer goods, electronics, pharmaceuticals, fashion & apparel, industrial products etc. The key factor leading to growth in packaging sector would be growing middle class giving impetus to consumption of various products.

Growing middle Class : The Indian middle class, target consumers for many companies, is expected to swell up to 267 million people in the next five years, up 67 per cent from the current levels, thus providing a great market opportunity for firms, according to NCAER. As per the findings, the percentage of the middle class in the country’s total population will increase to 20.3 per cent by 2015-16 and 37.2 per cent by 2025-26. The Rural Consumer is getting connected & networked and becoming quality conscious by necessity.

Growth in Retail Sector : With rising disposable incomes, expansion of stores and supporting economic factors, India’s retail sector is expected to grow to about $ 900 billion (around Rs. 40,00,000 crore) by 2014, according to a report by global consultancy and research firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Organized retail penetration, which was expected to touch 16 percent by 2012 from the current 5 percent, is likely to trace 10.4 percent only. Modern, western-style retail outlets are becoming a familiar sight in India. Online commerce and retail will be the next major area for retail growth for India.

Processed food is on rise : Food retail sector in India is set to be more than double to $150 billion (around Rs. 670,870 crore) by 2025, according to a report by KPMG. The India’s food retail sector, which is currently estimated at $70 billion (around Rs. 313,137 crore) will be more than double in the next 15 years. With its vast population base, growing middle class and strong macro-economic environment, the Indian market has seen processed food emerge as the one of its fastest growing segments. Rapid lifestyle transformation, particularly in urban areas, has resulted in a dramatic increase in the demand for processed, packaged and ready-to-eat food products.

Consumer Electronic : With a market size of $5 billion in 2009 and significantly low penetration the consumer electronic industry promises huge potential in India and set to grow to $ 11.8 billion by 2014 (ISuppli estimates). Spending on consumer electronics devices is projected to grow at an overall CAGR of 14% through 2015. But still, the consumer electronics goods, like refrigerators, televisions and air conditioners, have low penetration in the country, leaving vast room for future growth.

Demand is growing across the board and this will encourage the demand for packaging…

Office & Copier Paper

Copier paper today used as a facilitator of communication through its use in documentation for various purposes and is printed mainly on photocopiers, office printers and digital printing machines. While the print industry is growing at about 12.2%, digital print is growing almost at about 25% and the Indian digital printing market is expected to grow from US $504 million in 2006 to as much as US $2.5 billion by 2012. According to Gartner reports the shipments of inkjet and page (laser and LED) printers, copiers, and MFPs in India in 2010 rose to 3,024,542 units from 2,250,900 in 2009 showing a growth rate of 34.4%. In 1992, there were only 410,000 personal computers in India whereas in 2010, an estimated 7 million PC’s were sold in the country.

Copier paper market in India is pegged around 425,000 tons annually and the unorganized market adds another 20% to this. The copier segment is expected to continue growing with the growing size of SOHO, BPO & KPO, university graduates, documentation needs for various purposes and the growth of the economy.

No. of Printers sold:

2010    3,024,542

2009    2,250,900

Growth Rate: 34.4%

L to R: Mr. Shreeyash Bangur, Mr. N Gopalaratnam, Mr. Pradeep Dhobale, Mr. R. R. Vederah, Mr. Sunil Sood

Growth Sustainability:

Data reveals that the manufacturing sector recorded a double digit growth i.e. 11.3% during Apr- Aug 2010 as compared to earlier 5.6% during the corresponding period of last year. GDP is growing at 8.8% and will exceed in future. Believing that Indian paper industry growth is in the multiples of GDP growth? Is it sustainable or there is a need of some course of correction?

Mr. Pradeep Dhobale “I don’t think there is any need of correction. History has shown that China has achieved tremendous growth consistently for 2 decades and India can very much repeat the history with the present environment. Sustainability is measured not by the growth r a t e but through the environment. In the recent years mills like APPM, TNPL, ITC, BILT etc. have expanded their pulp lines. To tackle the issue of raw material availability some solutions have been found in the form of farm forestry but still some actions are being taken to find out more solutions. New technologies have been installed to tackle these issue and for a better environment too”.

Mr. Gopalaratnam: “The numbers we are projecting for Indian paper industry is somewhat lower and hence there is need for correct statistics. I believe that as long as the economic growth is intact the paper industry growth is intact. The industry is tackling the issues like non availability of raw material, cost of raw material & the environmental issues. Industry is tackling these issues very responsibly and if governed or moderated by the government authorities the industry will grow further in a responsible way. In the last 5 years paper industry has invested much more as compared to the last 10 or 15 years. The kind of investment that is done or planned, sustainability is not an issue for the industry”.

Consumption and Demand Push In India.Anopportunity?

Mr. R. R. Vadhera: “The consumption of 10 million tons represents about 9 kg per capita consumption. The latent consumption that is going to come in this country hasn’t been unleashed yet. The general perception says that the consumption of 10 million tons will be doubled to 20 million tons by 2020 but I think we will bridge this gap much earlier. For capacity development the organized sector has spent so much on the state of art technology before the advancement of the consumption in the country so as to realize the capital efficiency of these assets. If we look at the writing & printing paper consumption in India its just 4 kg per capita while in China it is 16 kg, so there will be growth but raw material challenges will be there. To tackle the issue of raw material scarcity we all went for farm forestry and the way we do it nobody does that. We have to deal with average marginal land holdings of even 1 hectare per farmer. So the cost curve is not competitive. We at Ballarpur went internationally to secure our fiber requirement”.

Bunching of the capacities? Pain or Boon!

Mr. R.R. Vadhera: “All of us who have expanded their capacities we knew that there would be an over capacity for short term and exports was need of the hour. We especially at Ballarpur created an export valve for us to tackle this. It is not possible to dare to put 100,000 tons machine but BILT will put up a 3,00,000 tons of multilayer board machine over the next two years. We are very much aware that it will not be absorbed domestically so, we have to export to other markets. The cost of installing the state of art technology is so high that we cannot install them on the basis of small capacities. Our nonintegration level went up to 40% due to which our margins dropped from 26- 27% to 22%. Because at that time we felt that it is important to attack the market first as we had limited resources to simultaneously expand the pulping capacity. Now we decided to put up 2 pulp mills one in BILT&another in Sabah to address this issue. The demand grows gradually but we all are committed to this business and I am sure that the Indian market will provide us unique opportunities to take the brunt of these over capacities”.

Mr. Pradeep Dhobale: “I remember 3-4 years ago finance minister encouraged the industry to create more capacities as the demand was increasing, by giving us some exemptions on excise duty. So, we took up the challenge to ourselves and created the capacities ahead of time. One or two difficult years will not break somebody’s back. Industry has done capacity expansion in a responsible manner and if we didn’t do them lot more imports have entered this country which is not good for the country, employment generation and for economy as a whole”.

Raw-Material Issues: Many times we talk about the non availability of the raw material, cost of raw material etc. how we take up these issues or the agro initiative which was taken will be good enough to take care of our raw material needs and will make us cost competitive?

Mr. Shreeyash Bangur: “The Indian government hasn’t supported us by offering land and I think that this will continue as same in future. So, to tackle the above problem we take up the initiative of farm forestry. There are few companies which are doing this like ITC is doing 100 million trees a year; APPM will do the same. Ideally major companies should do 100,000 hectare of plantations every year but unfortunately some companies are not doing good and few IPMA mills are collectively doing just 50,000 hectare in total. I think that the other sources like wheat straw or rice straw are not viable as there is a competitive demand for these as fuel and wood has not caught up as a fuel source. If Indian paper industry has to grow up to 20 million tons the main constraints would not only be raw material but also manpower, capital etc”.

Non-Wood Raw Material Sources: If we are not able to create the robust raw material base we have to look for other sources i.e. secondary fiber. Industry is evolving to enhance the collected percentage of waste paper or pushing the government to have effective ways of collection, sorting, grading etc.

Mr. Gopalaratnam: “Out of the total production of India hardly 40% comes from wood pulp and the remaining 60% comes from agro residue and recovered fiber. If we have projected the growth of 10 million tons in another 10 years all these sectors have to grow”.

Mr. Pradeep Dhobale: “The import of waste paper in India has dropped down drastically in 2009-2010 approximately a million ton. I am sure that the waste paper mills haven’t cut down their production for a single day rather they have grown in this period by 10 to 12% This shows that recovery rate of waste paper in India has gone up. Every time we raise the prices for waste paper like Rs. 1000/ton, it acts as an incentive for the better recovery. We should create a balance between the prices of imported waste paper and domestic waste paper prices in order to improve the recovery rate. The paper industry and the government have to go hand in hand to make it possible. The government has to pass a legislation of source segregation & collection which will create employment, value & environment benefits”.

Process Efficiencies: With the emergence of sustainability government have pushed the industries to consider the various issues related to environment and climate that encompasses energy, water and air? How is the paper industry preparing it self technologically for the litigation of carbon emissions, enhancing energy efficiencies, water conservation, biofuel etc?

Mr. N. Gopalaratnam: “For the economic reasons we are becoming competitive. We may not be reducing the consumption of energy, water and raw material. But we are driven down the line to become highly competitive, therefore these areas have become the matter of importance for us too. We have small units, run multiple lines, produce different products from varied pulp furnishes so inherently lot of wastages are there. Pulp & paper industry is driving towards the bigger capacities with more sophisticated technology and means of production. I don’t say that we are doing optimum or best but we are certainly on the right track despite of our size, raw material usage and the products we produce”.

ICT Threat: Paper continues to face threat from the electronic media like E-Book, Ipad etc. How paper industry is going to pitch in from these?

Mr. Shreeyash Bangur: “I personally feel that the consumer does what is most comfortable & time saving for him. We do believe that we cannot fight the electronic media. The carbon footprint of paper is much better from an electronic device and we need to stress on this point through our packaging & different forums”.

Mr. Gopalaratnam: “The effect of electronic media has affected the newsprint everywhere. Many research have concluded that electronic media is not the sophisticated thing to replace paper as an item of consumption by an individual. Electronic media will supplement & complement the paper but never replace a paper. Particularly in India the rise of computers is a boon for the cut sheet A4 copier papers”.

Industry makeover

Pradeep Dhobale: Yes we need a makeover both in the eyes of government a n d m o s t importantly public at large. The problem is that we are more inwardly focused. There is not much focus on the customer as compared to the other industries. To communicate to the masses we need to tell our green story rather than spending on ad campaign.

On sustainability Sunil Sood said: “We are basically in the business of fixing carbon dioxide generating oxygen through sun & land access that we have.”

Paper Arabia 2010 successfully concluded with over 6,000 trade visitors, which an increase of 16.6 per cent over the last year. Exhibitors from across the globe chose it as a platform to showcase their offering ranging from paper, paper board & tissue to pulp, chemicals, paper making machinery and converting machinery.

Satish Khanna, General Manager, Al Fajer Information and Services, organizer of the show, said: “Paper Arabia was being held every two years and now we are holding it every year. We are upbeat about the industry which we think has great potential for further growth. Among the participants were companies that have Dubai as their main headquarters for Africa and Asia. This reflects the leading role Dubai is playing in the paper industry.”

Khanna added: “Dubai used to be heavily dependent on European suppliers, however the Dollar-Euro fluctuation has changed the trade equation, making Asia and India better alternatives. These two regions are widening their capacities and enhancing their services to emerge as preferred suppliers.”

The UAE has certainly emerged as a leader in the distribution of quality paper and it is making great strides in producing paper, noted Khanna.

The highlights of this year’s show was the participation of Chinese companies that booked multi-million dollar orders for many high tech, heavy duty machines. Each Chinese company reported to have gained six to seven potential customers from the region. There was strong presence of Indian exhibitors at the show and we took feedback of few exhibitors.

WIRES & FABRIKS (SA) LTD, JAIPUR

Idea of participation : We have a strong presence in Middle Eastern region and are catering to all leading mills in UAE/Saudi Arabia and Iran. We enjoy a tremendous goodwill with the industry in this region due to our long experience in dealing with them. The exhibition thus gives us an opportunity to meet them at one place and also showcase our latest value added products.

Product launch : We have launched the latest 4 generation fabric – STL (Shute-Support Triple Layer), which belongs to the SSB group of fabrics designed specially for quality and energy conscious high speed modern machines. We manufacture these STL fabrics in Jaipur in collaboration with M/s Albany International who are the world’s leaders in the field of paper machine clothings. Hitherto these STL fabrics were imported into India by paper mills. We are thus now the first and the only manufacturer in India to manufacture these SSB range of fabrics.

New developments : As compared to earlier fair, there were much more visitors from Iran and smaller countries in the Middle East region. Indian participation from paper mills was low.

Visitor turnaround : We are happy with the footfall from our existing customers. Almost all of them from leading mills in the region visited but we expected more from Egypt, Turkey and Africa which was a disappointment.

Potential & Confirmed orders : Our products are consumables and we have a strong on-going business in this area, so quantum during the fair doesn’t matter much. However we are happy with the response to our STL fabric range which is a new product line.

ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL

Idea of participation : To service customers in Middle East an Africa

Product launch : No

New developments : NIL

Visitor turnaround : Customers from Iran, Egypt, Dubai and some African countries visited.

Potential & Confirmed orders : Good potential but no contract signed during exhibition

AMBICA PAPER MACHINERIES

Idea of participation : Looking for business in that region

Product launch : Yes, we have launched new product in India and we had got good response

New developments : We have got a consultant and we hope to turn it in a positive way

Visitor turnaround : Compare to last year, the ratio of the visitor was very less, may be because Paper Middle East exhibition prior to Paper Arabia

Potential & Confirmed orders : They are under discussion and we will get it.

PARASON MACHINERY (INDIA ) PVT LTD

Idea of participation : Our idea was to get the access to the middle east market and promote our products in European market as we were expecting European customers there.

Product launch : We have displayed the refiner fillings manufactured with advance technologies like milled plate, welded plate, curved plate etc.

New developments : We were able to get access to the Iranian customers as well as important customers from Saudi, UAE, Syria and had business discussions with European suppliers.

Visitor turnaround : Visitor turnout was good. We had customers from Iran, Syria, UAE, Saudi, Austria, India, South Africa.

Potential & Confirmed orders : Potential orders confirmed was from Iranian customer like Humayun Duplex Board along with potential enquiries from Pakistan for plates and refiners from Saudi customers.

PPI PUMPS PVT LTD

Idea of participation : To expand our market operations

Product launch : NIL

New developments : We are working to get agent for UAE & Saudi Arabia

Visitor turnaround : Mostly all were genuine

Potential & Confirmed orders : USD 25000 or more in future

ORIENT LINKS CO LLC

Idea of participation : As we are one of the largest and most established paper trading houses promoting Indian paper in Middle East and Africa it makes sense for us to be a participant in Paper Arabia. It certainly helps us in creating more awareness about development in Indian paper industry and also to make our presence felt strongly in this market. Of course finding new customers and business development is always a driving force for this participation.

Product launch : BILT Matrix digital paper and JK Copier in new wrapper with ColorLok technology for better color printouts

New developments : Paper Arabia is now going to be an annual event and we expect more and more customers from various markets to visit the show in coming years.

Visitor turnaround : Turnaround has been good and we have higher footfall than the last year show.

Potential & Confirmed orders : We booked considerable orders and event was quite successful for us.

KROFTA ENGINEERING LIMITED

Idea of participation : To explore potential for marketing Krofta equipments in Middle East and surrounding countries.

Product launch : We have offered our new products like Sedicell, Spray Filter, K.S. Filter, Belt Filter Press to the customers.

New developments : Nothing encouraging it was more paper trading exhibition.

Visitor turnaround : Dull

Potential & Confirmed orders : Nil

S.L. INDUSTRIES

Idea of participation : As we manufacture paper machine and pulp mill equipments, our main idea is to develop our quality product market in Arabian countries too.

Product launch : Our technical team is always engaged for new products we are offering our technical service whenever and where ever required.

New developments : We are interested to develop our business

Visitor turnaround : More then 35 visitors attend our stall

Potential & Confirmed orders : Nil

ZALANI PAPER MART

Idea of participation : To promote our company products to worldwide buyers who visit the show

Product launch : Nothing new

New developments : Yes a few of them, working on them yet

Potential & Confirmed orders : Potential is very good, and yes we are about to confirm some orders now

Abhishek Industries Ltd (AIL) was the only Indian paper manufacturer to mark their presence as an exhibitor at Paper Arabia in a big way. We interacted with Mr. Rajeev Gupta, Business Head – Paper at AIL, here are the excerpts of the interaction.

What AIL has to offer to the Middle East market at this show?

Middle East paper market is growing very fast and it offers many advantages to India in terms of distance, trade component and more opportunities to expand market. If we focus the market the way it wants there are great opportunities available here. There are only few copier brands popular in the Middle East market and no Indian copier brand is accepted here till date apart from BILT & JK Papers. So still there is lot of gap which we can fill.

Here the customers are very sensitive about the brand once they use it and didn’t like it they will not give the second chance. Moreover, this market is very fussy about the presentation & packaging. So we will ensure that we build our strength based on these factors by providing a quality branded product.

What kind of strategy does AIL implies for Middle East market?

AIL manufactures towel & yarn and export them to various countries and most of the revenue comes from exports. Paper is the only business where we are more on the domestic side as the Indian paper production was not self-sufficient to serve the domestic demand. But with the additional capacities coming in, everyone in Indian paper industry is looking for exports. AIL being an export oriented company, so this was a logical choice,and we are better equipped for exports as compared to all our competitors.

Middle East is a big market where you have good demand of copier along with big size notebook manufacturers, publishers & printers. So, we will equally focus on copier and both surface sized & non-surface sized woodfree maplitho grades. Our intention is to understand the customer, his need in terms of service, quality product, behavior etc which we understand perfectly.

What is the USP of AIL?

AIL’s USP is twofold. First, we are an export oriented company and we know the art of exports, the importance of transparency and how to be sustainable. Second USP is our product. We offer a good quality eco friendly product, which is not made from recycle waste rather it’s a virgin pulp made from wheat straw. We are not cutting trees at all for our raw material. We have invested in the technology which is capable of producing high quality paper even from agro residue.

What kind of inquires and business you were able to generate during the show?

As we are the manufacturers representing ourselves, so for customers it acted as a source of genuine supplier, so it was a win – win situation. Over the 3 days of the show 350 customers & guest visited us. From our overall capacity we are already exporting around 30%. With the kind of inquires and the network we are looking out here we are sure that in couple of months we will go up to 45%. In terms of tonnages, the market will stabilize somewhere at 2000 to 2500 tonnes per month which includes 1000 tonnes copier.

Packaging, commitment & consistent supply are few major challenges faced by the Indian mills in exports market, what steps AIL will take to tackle these problems?

We have got automatic ream & shrink wrapping machines, Bielomatik cutters that will enable us to do a good packaging. For commitment we are taking all the possible precautions to deliver what we have committed. For consistent quality we have made the in-house check points on various levels of production and the product is properly checked & certified before dispatching.

Price is the crucial part of any business. A little mismatch can upset any business and it affects everyone down the line specially the middle level people who actually finishes the product and supply it to the end consumer. Price rise happens in the paper industry quite often due to some unforeseen reasons but its affect can be seen on everyone. The big converters may absorb the effect to some extent but what about the 1000’s of small converters they are the one who actually feels the brunt of these unforeseen price fluctuations. This survey will help us to understand the thought flow of the converters in lieu of these unforeseen price rises and certainly provide with the varied solutions to minimize the effect of these price fluctuations.

Mr. Himanshu Gupta

Joint Managing Director

S. Chand & Co. Ltd.

(New Delhi)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

The customer faces the problem regarding fluctuation of paper price. At S. Chand, we negotiate on regular basis with the 3-4 paper mills and usually we do the annual contracts with the paper mills. After dealing 3-4 big paper mills we every time keep the watch on the prices.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

There are multi reasons for the price fluctuation in the industry, some of them mentioned below:

a. Fluctuations in the cost of raw material.

b. Due to import policy for pulp of the Government.

c. Paper demand and supply scenario in the domestic market and in the international market.

d. Due to natural calamity in regard to import of paper pulp for example earthquake incidents in Chile.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/No)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

It is not easy to tackle this problem.

Grades used by us

Maplitho Paper for Offset Printing varying from 50 GSM to 90 GSM

Does customer accepts / support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. N. Sarmah

Proprietor,

Saraighat Offset Press

(Guwahati, Assam)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

The problems include decrease in profit margins and increase in price of other related goods which makes it difficult to convince the customers about the price rise.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

The reasons behind this price fluctuation are the various government policies and taxes and even the paper industry main motive is to earn money. Before when the paper used to come from aboard the price were reasonable but after the government changed its policies, the paper industries has increased their prices and ultimately the small converters and the customers are suffering from the rise in price.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/No)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Yes, this problem can be tackled, the government and the paper industry should agree on a price which is reasonable and will be stable. Also the paper industry main aim should be to have a reasonable and stable price rather than earning profit.

Grades used by us

Gloss & Matt Art paper, Maplitho, Cream wove

Does customer accepts / support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. Rajender P Ghansela

General Manager (Production)

McGraw-Hill Education (India) Pvt. Ltd.

(Noida, Uttar Pradesh)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

Due to regular hike in paper price we are facing lots of problems in term of stable prices and availability of paper, as in text books paper forms 60-65% of the cost. Unbudgeted price hikes, impacts cost of production, which leads to sacrifice in margin, compromise on quality etc. By increasing our product price we have a brunt on our unit sales. We overcome with this situation by using customized paper, reducing paper wastage and by increasing price of our books.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

It is basically due to demand and supply situation in market. Various mills are exporting paper in large quantity which impact prices and availability in domestic market. Also there was shortage of pulp in international market due to Chile situation. We expect paper industry to provide clear roadmap of tackling paper pricing and availability in market.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Yes, we think this problem can be tackled by increasing production capacity of mills; government should introduce some incentive schemes for paper industry.

Grades used by us

Maplitho and Offset Paper in 58/60/70/80 GSM

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

YES

Mr. Tushar Dhote

Managing Director

Dhote Offset Technokrafts Pvt. Ltd.

(Mumbai, Maharashtra)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

It affects profitability and can lead us to an uncomfortable situation with clients to whom we have already quoted price and cannot ask for a sudden price change.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

There can be a lot of reasons for price increase such as basic raw material required in the process of manufacturing, Government duties, fuel prices, market indicators such as sensex and due to upgradation of equipment etc.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

YES, it can be curtailed through proper communication and advance notification through respective associations. Some consumable manufacturers have signed a MOU which prevents them from increasing the price unless the raw material price is affected.

Grades used by us

Ballarpur, Khanna, JK, Century and Imported Art Paper

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

YES

Mr. Pramod Borkar

Managing Director

Borkar Packaging Pvt. Ltd.

(Goa)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

Margins get affected and there are immediate repercussions on the cash flow. Another worry is loss of market share. To overcome this situation, we continue putting pressure on the existing clients for a price rise while ensuring that business is not lost. Further we focus on niche segments which are not crowded by converters because of advanced technology required. We also to try take existing packaging up the value chain in terms of both, aesthetics & technology.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

Reasons can be of both natures; partially genuine and partially market opportunity encashment. It’s a growing country which makes it fairly unpredictable as well. The requirement for board is showing a healthy 2 digit percentile annual growth. In terms of capacities added, sometimes there is a mismatch which also tends to push the prices up.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

• One way commonly suggested is to have a body of converters than can present their problems to the industry in a collective manner.

• Encourage new mills so that competition heats up.

• Converters should look at other markets like exports with higher margins.

Grades used by us

Duplex Board, Virgin Board, FBB and Safire/Ultima, Kraft Paper

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

YES

Mr. Pradeep Jain

Managing Director

Vidya Prakashan Mandir Ltd.

(Meerut, Uttar Pradesh)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

If the fluctuation is such that it can be absorbed then the prices are kept on the same level. If the fluctuations are steep then it has to be passed on to the consumer. The price change is applicable from the fresh batches.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

The input costs of many variables are responsible for the price fluctuation. It can be anything from raw material available procurement, transportations, front expenses, taxation and even government policies.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/No)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

The remedy can to be keep prices remain stationary for a specified period.

Grades used by us

All grades of A, B & C Quality paper

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

Yes

Mr. Namit Lodha

Director

Lodha Offset Limited

(Jodhpur, Rajasthan)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

The unusual price fluctuations have resulted into losses for almost all manufacturers as the end customers normally do not digest the above fact. Moreover, paper prices have been changing every now and then, which means that you take a price quote of some paper today and by the time you are ready to place an order, you may be subjected to a revised price due to unforeseen reasons, which directly affects the on time delivery to the customer.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

• Global pulp shortage

• Unstable raw material prices

• Seasonal demand and supply gap

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Yes.

• The only way out to this situation seems is to enter into mutual commitment and agreement with your suppliers where prices remain valid for a certain period of time and this should happen in the entire supply chain.

• The second solution seems is to keep sufficient stocks of paper for few months production so that, increasing paper prices do not hit you immediately, though it would require an handsome monetary investment.

Grades used by us

Writing & Printing Paper, Duplex Board

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. Sumit Khanna

CEO,

Beeta Tissues Pvt. Ltd.

(New Delhi)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

I feel price fluctuation always reduces credibility of suppliers and decreases the market sentiments. As a result the converters get insecure and confused leading to decrease in purchase. “GO SLOW-wait and watch”, is my formula to overcome the situation.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

Demand and supply gap (high) at a global level ,inconsistent supply of raw material could be the possible reasons.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Can’t say?

Grades used by us

Tissue – Napkin, Toilet, Facial, Kitchen

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. R.Chockalingam

Chairman

Srinivas Fine Arts Pvt. Ltd.

(Sivakasi, Tamilnadu)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

Once the print order is booked it is very difficult to get revision in prices, but the paper mills always charge the prices prevailing on the date of dispatch. The printer can demand better price by rending value added services, quality supplies, timely deliveries, cost effective measures, creativity etc which will enable the printer to retain the customer, who will be happy to absorb the price increase which is beyond the control of the printers. The printers skill set should be to first retain the customers and pricing issues should be given second priority.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

• Price changes in paper pulp

• Dollar appreciation

• Freight increase

• Power tariff increase

• Demand supply gap.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Yes,

• To add certain percentage in cost of paper in anticipation while booking the print order.

• To keep stock of paper for at least 3 to 4 months requirement and load the interest cost to the print buyers.

This is also subject to risk of locking of funds, idle inventory and quality deterioration.

• To quote prices linked with prevailing rate of paper and the price will change automatically whenever paper price increases.

• Federation of Master Printers should represent strongly and coordinate with the mills regulate the paper prices.

• Forward contract system should be introduced like Cotton, Sugar etc.

Grades used by us

Coated / Uncoated Paper & Paper Boards, Fusion Boards

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. Vijay Kumar

Director

MGK Printing Works Pvt. Ltd.

(New Delhi)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

Prices offered to the customers are difficult to stabilize. To counter this we stock the inventories, increase our sales target in order to bear the loss due to price fluctuation.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

• Increase in the prices of the raw material

• Government policies & taxation structures.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

YES, it can be minimized through proper flow of communication and transparency.

Grades used by us

Art Paper, Chromo Paper & Duplex Board

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

YES

Mr. Nikhil Mittal

Director

Sona Printers Pvt. Ltd.

(New Delhi)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

As a printer a lot of problem is faced with long term clients who fix rates annually. Many others tend to hold orders for some time to see if the rates will come down leading to delays and more deadline pressures. As, a paper stationery converters, heavy rate fluctuations lead to fluctuating MRP’s which is not a very healthy scenario with the consumer market.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

International pulp rates are used as a tool to manipulate paper prices in India.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Yes, to a limit, like long term agreements with the mills will help.

Grades used by us

Maplitho, Art Paper, SBS, and Duplex Boards

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. Rohit Kuthari

Director

Antarctica Ltd.

(Kolkata, West Bengal)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

Irrational and sudden price increase does affect one and all. We had to supply finished products at quoted prices and suffer loss. We were forced to look at the option of importing paper / paper board.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

• Gap between supply and demand

• Mills have formed a cartel; all of them decide to go for price increase together.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

Yes, allow duty-free imports immediately till paper mills expand capacity and improve quality. Printed books are allowed duty-free imports. Glazed News Prints are allowed duty-free imports, export is suffering on account of huge increase in price of duplex boards and kraft papers 30 – 40%.

Grades used by us

Coated Duplex, Coated / Uncoated Papers

Does customer accepts/support in the price fluctuations?

NO

Mr. T.S. Viswanathan

Partner

Subramaniam Brothers Pvt. Ltd.

(Chennai, Tamilnadu)

Problem faced with respect to price fluctuation and how you overcome this situation?

The fundamental fear due to price rise is loss of orders due to increase in prices. As, there is always a big time lag for the next suitable order to get generated, the only thing is, to what extent we can arrest reduction in our profitability. Only after effecting two to three supplies at old prices we slowly negotiate with our customers and bring to them the price increase matter. The customers would also slowly realize that price increase has taken place and if they even go to another converter the issue would be the same.

What are the reasons for this Price Fluctuation?

The main factor is cost push inflation. So, when the government increases the prices for coal, oil, forest timber or water charges then paper mills do increase correspondingly. Internationally the prices of paper also are no way coming down. Environmental factors & natural disasters also affect the prices.

Can this problem be tackled (YES/NO)? Suggest some Remedial Measures.

I would suggest that as far as paper converters are concerned they should always anticipate an 8% increase in paper prices. My only request to the paper mills is that they should increase the price of paper by this percentage on 1st April every year. Thereafter they should not increase for that year. Haphazard increases would lead to lots of confusions and also decrease in production and productivity.

Grades used by us

High Bright Maplitho, Superfine, Offset Printing High Quality in Reels about 90%, Coated Paper and Duplex Board about 10%.

As stated our customer does not accept price fluctuations?

YES