ITC PSPD has been driving sustainability in the packaging segment through innovative solutions. In an exclusive interview to Paper Mart, ITC Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division (PSPD) shares that the company is leveraging its R&D capabilities to launch several paper-based alternatives to single-use plastics. From sustainable packaging solutions to helping customers with ‘light-weight’ packaging requirements, the company’s innovative and sustainable paperboard segments- like ‘Filo’ series- has gained significant traction, both in India and abroad, underscoring the company’s commitment to sustainability.
Paper Mart: Could you begin by giving us an overview of your packaging paper and board operations – including your production capacity, facility locations, and manufacturing setup?
ITC PSPD: ITC’s Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division (ITC PSPD) is amongst the leading names in the business worldwide. We are the largest integrated pulp and paper manufacturer in India. Our world-class facilities – Bhadrachalam & Bollaram in Telangana, Kovai in Tamil Nadu and Tribeni in West Bengal respectively offer a wide range of products with an annual capacity of almost 1 million MT.
We proactively anticipate industrial trends and have stayed ahead of the curve by investing in state-of-the-art green technology, implementing ground-breaking renewable energy projects, focusing on R&D and launching innovative paper products. We leverage cutting edge technology through digitalization and adoption of Industry 4.0. All of these, accompanied by a diverse product range of high-quality paper & paperboards have helped us emerge as one of the leading manufacturers in the industry. Our innovative solutions fulfilling a diverse cross-section of printing and packaging needs have helped carve a niche for ourselves.
Watch: In Pursuit of Lesser Water Footprint
PM: Please walk us through your current product portfolio. What grades, GSM ranges, and end-use applications do you cater to, and are there any specialty packaging paper and board products you offer?
ITC: We manufacture a wide array of products that meet a variety of needs across industries, ranging from packaging boards, graphic boards, plastic substitution products to specialty papers. We are the pioneers of virgin boards and décor papers in India. We have consistently upscaled our portfolio of products and services over the years. Today, ITC PSPD’s products and pool of knowledge-based services are much sought-after, both in India and internationally, by discerning customers. Our paperboard brands such as Cyber XLPac, Carte Lumina and FiloBev to name a few, are well established in the market.
Our product verticals include paperboards (both virgin & recycled) that find applications as carton packaging, liquid packaging, graphic boards, barrier boards, solid boards, top liners, etc. We also manufacture specialty papers for decorative laminates, thin printing, food wrapping and other applications. Our fine papers range serves a variety of writing & printing applications. We are also the pioneers of sustainable packaging products in India, having launched several paper-based alternatives to single-use plastics in the F&B segment.
Our GSM range starts from as low as 21 GSM for specialty paper and goes up to as high as 450 GSM for virgin paperboards. We also have solid boards with thicknesses up to 4mm that are a substitute for rigid plastics in in-store branding applications.
Our paperboard brands such as Cyber XLPac, Carte Lumina and FiloBev are well established in the market.
PM: Which are your key domestic and international markets? How has your market footprint evolved in the past few years?
ITC: ITC PSPD has a pan-India footprint with an extensive dealer network spread throughout. We have 5 sales offices in major cities of India with a dedicated sales & marketing team to build and enhance our customer relations. In order to be closer to our markets and ensure faster deliveries, we maintain 5 Quick Service Centres (QSCs) across the country. Our robust supply-chain systems ensure round-the-clock service.
Internationally, we cater to almost 50 countries. While concentrating on our home-grown markets, we also intend to increase our global penetration and are foraying into unexplored international markets.
PM: Sustainability is becoming a cornerstone of packaging. What steps have you taken to integrate environmentally responsible practices into your manufacturing and sourcing?
ITC: At ITC, sustainability has been at the heart of everything we do. ITC is the only company of comparable size in the world to be carbon positive for 20 years, water positive for 23 years and solid waste recycling positive for 18 years in a row.
In 2022, our Bhadrachalam unit commissioned India’s first high pressure recovery boiler (HPRB), leading to a significant reduction in the unit’s coal consumption. As a result, the Bhadrachalam mill consumes 53% of its energy from renewable sources, already surpassing our 2030 target of 50%.
We are strongly committed to developing a sustainable raw material base, and hence we progressively source our pulpwood from renewable plantations under our Social and Farm Forestry programmes, which provide sustainable livelihood opportunities to tribals and marginal farmers. We are proud to say that our afforestation programme has helped green over 1.32 million acres of land and sequestered around 6.4 million MT of CO2, while generating over 241 million person-days of employment till date. We are also the first paper company in India to obtain the Forest Stewardship Council – Forest Management (FSC-FM) certification for our forestry program. All 4 of our manufacturing units are FSC®-CoC (Chain of Custody) certified, ensuring ‘zero deforestation.’
ITC PSPD’s facilities at Bhadrachalam and Kovai are CII GreenCo PLATINUM + certified, the highest rating in the system. Similarly, both the facilities have achieved Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Platinum certification. Under our solid waste management programme, Well-being Out of Waste (WOW), we had 67,100 MT of dry waste collected in FY25 and promoted sustainable livelihoods for 17,900 waste collectors till date.
PM: How has demand for packaging paper and board evolved post-COVID and amid growing e-commerce and FMCG consumption? Which segments are currently driving the most growth for you?
ITC: Post-Covid, we have definitely seen a surge in demand as growing e-commerce and FMCG consumption has led to demand for packaging that is both sustainable and robust. Our products serve a diverse range of industries such as pharma, FMCG, food & beverage and publishing to name a few. Our path-breaking ‘Filo’ series of sustainable paperboards has gained significant traction in the food and beverage industry, both in India and abroad as a substitute to single use plastics, further underlining our commitment to sustainability.
PM: According to recent global market data, the packaging paper and board market is projected to grow steadily through 2033. How are you positioning your business to tap into this rising global demand?
ITC: We have augmented our capacities and enriched our product portfolio by adding innovative products such as single-use plastic alternatives and brown boards. In addition, while we keep driving our growth in our existing export markets, we are now venturing into international markets that have remained untapped until now.
We are confident this will strengthen the market standing of ITC PSPD and create new opportunities in both the domestic and international markets.
PM: What are some of the most significant technological upgrades or process improvements you’ve made recently in your mills to enhance quality, reduce waste, or optimize energy usage?
ITC: At ITC PSPD, we are consistently implementing innovations in technology. Some of the recent technological upgrades that have been made are PM1A and BCTMP plant in Bhadrachalam unit, coater for sustainable barrier boards and laminating machine in Unit Bollaram, and capacity enhancement of décor paper at Unit Tribeni.
We were the first to commission the high-pressure recovery boiler (HPRB) in India, underscoring ITC PSPD’s investment in green technology. Through our focus on accelerating digitalization across businesses, ITC PSPD is implementing several transformative projects leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies across key business areas, to enhance productivity, achieve strategic cost efficiencies and superior product performance. IoT, advanced analytics, and image analytics are the levers ITC PSPD is using to achieve its digital vision.
ITC PSPD is also leveraging real-time AI models to enhance visibility, control and predictability in operations. We have been recognised for developing an in-house digital twin technology that goes beyond machine-level insights to capture and simulate behaviors of complex chemico-physical processes. This innovation is helping shift from reactive problem-solving to real-time, data-driven decision making, leading to improvements in efficiency and quality across the entire value chain.
Some of the recent technological upgrades at our facilities include the installation of PM1A and a BCTMP plant at the Bhadrachalam unit, a coater for sustainable barrier boards and a laminating machine at the Bollaram unit, as well as increased décor paper production capacity at the Tribeni unit.
PM: Are you seeing a shift in customer preference toward higher-strength or lightweight packaging paper and board variants? How are you balancing performance with cost-efficiency in product development?
ITC: ITC PSPD has always been at the forefront of achieving sustainability in packaging in various forms – from innovating unique sustainable packaging solutions that can replace single-use plastics, to helping customers in ‘light-weighting’ their packaging requirements, to having an established solid waste management program called ‘Well-being Out of Waste (WOW)’ for achieving circularity.
Lightweight packaging is steadily becoming the preference for many due to cost-efficiency and increased awareness on sustainability and we have ensured that we maintain our competitive advantage by meeting this demand without compromising on the performance or the quality of our grades. Our range of paperboards, both virgin and recycled, are well known for their high bulk and stiffness properties.
PM: What are the major challenges you currently face as a packaging paper and board manufacturer– be it raw material volatility, energy costs, logistics, or regulatory changes? How are you navigating them?
ITC: We have always been proactive when it comes to foreseeing challenging situations and taking relevant actions.
To tackle raw material volatility, we continue to invest in our large-scale afforestation programme and work closely with farmers to turn their unproductive land assets into profitable and renewable plantations, using clonal saplings specially developed by ITC PSPD R&D to grow in harsh conditions.
To deal with energy costs, we commissioned India’s first high pressure recovery boiler (HPRB), which has helped enhance energy efficiency and increase renewable energy share at the mill since its installation.
There have been several regulatory changes in the packaging industry – such as the Plastic Waste Management Rules and ban on single-use plastic items. We have been able to leverage our R&D capabilities to launch several paper-based alternatives to single-use plastics. Our ‘Filo’ series of sustainable paperboards has gained significant traction in the packaging industry, both in India and abroad. Under the Filo series, we currently have FiloBev, FiloPack, FiloServe, FiloBowl and FiloTub, that are ideal replacements to single-use plastic and LDPE-coated packaging/disposables in the F&B industry.
Also Read: TNPL Gearing Up to Produce More FBB Grade Products
PM: Looking ahead, what’s your strategic roadmap – capacity expansion, backward integration, export push, product diversification? How do you envision your mill’s role in the global packaging paper and board value chain in the next 5 years?
ITC: We have always believed in being a step ahead and have been actively venturing into all avenues of growth. We are entering into unexplored markets abroad while strengthening and penetrating deeper into our existing ones within the country.
Our ‘Filo’ series of plastic substitution products shows our firm commitment to sustainability before it became the norm. We further plan to expand this portfolio by deepening product development to target newer applications. As mentioned earlier, at ITC, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do and we are constantly looking for innovative solutions to cater to rising consumer demand for sustainable alternatives.
ITC PSPD will continue to grow & innovate, and remain a significant player in the global paper & paperboard industry for years to come.
We were the first to commission the high-pressure recovery boiler (HPRB) in India, underscoring ITC’s investment in green technology.
