In an exclusive interaction with Paper Mart, Mr. Jagdeep Singh, President, Ruchira Papers Limited, highlights that fiber sourcing approach has transitioned from a ‘cost-focused model’ to a more ‘resilience-driven strategy’. It is no longer viewed as a purely procurement function, but as a strategic capability centred on risk management, operational resilience, and long-term competitiveness. He shares that the company has diversified its procurement across multiple regions, expanded domestic sourcing, and worked closely with the production teams to optimize fiber blends and improve process efficiency. The mill has simultaneously managed three competing priorities: availability, cost, and quality to maintain its production continuity and fulfill customer commitments.
Paper Mart: How would you describe the current fiber landscape in India, and what major shifts have you observed in recent years in terms of availability patterns, pricing dynamics, supply reliability, and the balance between domestic sourcing and import dependence across different fiber sources?
Jagdeep Singh: The current landscape is mostly dependent on imported waste paper, domestic waste paper, and imported pulp. Our production of virgin pulp is just a fraction of our total requirement, so now we have to focus primarily on expanding domestic produce.
For waste paper, pricing is driven by dollar exchange rates and the export policies of supplying countries. For example, the European Union introduced a new regulation in 2024 called the European Union Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR), which aims at keeping scraps and recyclables within the EU in order to boost domestic fiber supply and support local EU mills. With increased regulatory scrutiny, it will become progressively more difficult for countries like India to import EU waste paper.
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PM: How has your fiber mix evolved over time across wood, agro, and recycled sources, and what have been the key drivers behind these changes: whether related to cost pressures, raw material availability, product quality requirements, or strategic repositioning of your portfolio? If possible, could you also indicate the approximate shift in fiber proportions over the past few years?
JS: We are increasingly focused on producing our own pulp. Our location gives us the advantage of access to affordable agro waste, which we convert into pulp. This provides insulation from external market shocks, as our raw material costs are not directly linked to the price of the finished product.
PM: How do you approach fiber strategy within your organization, and to what extent is it influenced by product mix, grade requirements, and customer expectations, as opposed to market-driven constraints such as availability and price volatility?
JS: Over the years, the quality of agro fiber we produce has improved considerably. The average brightness was around 80% a decade ago; today we are producing at 85%. Tensile strength has also improved significantly since we moved away from hypochlorite bleaching to chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) — there is no longer any colour reversion in agro fiber.
Since we manufacture a wide variety of paper grades, pulp quality is critical to giving our paper machines the operational flexibility they require.
We are increasingly focused on producing our own pulp. Our location gives us the advantage of access to affordable agro waste, which we convert into pulp. This provides insulation from external market shocks, as our raw material costs are not directly linked to the price of the finished product.
PM: How do you evaluate and balance trade-offs between cost efficiency, quality consistency, and supply security in fiber sourcing, especially during periods of volatility, and are there defined internal thresholds, benchmarks, or triggers that guide shifts in fiber sourcing or blending?
JS: For waste paper procurement, we have expanded our sourcing area and are now actively reaching Tier 3 towns and even rural centres. The only viable way to remain competitive on procurement costs is to widen our supplier base.
Additionally, we build up stock levels when prices are low, so we do not have to compete aggressively with other buyers in the market when rates tighten and mills are scrambling to meet their requirements.
PM: How is your approach evolving in terms of securing greater control over fiber sources through plantations, long-term contracts, or structured sourcing ecosystems, and what proportion of your fiber sourcing would you consider to be under long-term control versus market-dependent procurement? Additionally, how do you balance the need for control with the flexibility to respond to changing market conditions?
JS: For wood pulp, we have set up a dedicated R&D team with a plan to develop proprietary clones of trees suited to our local soil conditions and the specific pulp characteristics we require. Given the current surplus in food crop production across the country, we are confident that farmers will be more open to transitioning some of their land to tree cultivation. We are planning to introduce structured schemes that offer farmers better returns and a more stable income stream.
For agro fiber, it has already become a meaningful part of farm income — instead of burning crop residue, farmers now collect and sell it. We are also planning to incorporate rice straw fiber using dedicated boilers, which will help reduce our dependence on coal.
Our production of virgin pulp is just a fraction of our total requirement, so we have to focus primarily on domestic produce. For waste paper imports, pricing is driven by dollar exchange rates and the export policies of supplying countries.
PM: How do variations in fiber sources or blends impact key operational parameters such as process efficiency, yield, machine runnability, chemical consumption, and final product quality, and how frequently or under what conditions are such adjustments typically made?
JS: For the grades where we produce our own pulp, this is not an issue. However, in kraft paper production, when we use waste paper, three parameters are affected: yield, strength, and brightness. We have both chemical and mechanical systems in place to maintain product quality despite these challenges, ensuring that our customers receive a consistent product. However, quality corrections do impact our bottom line.
Our approach is therefore to standardise sourcing and incentivise reliable vendors to maintain consistency.
PM: What are the key operational and logistical challenges you encounter in ensuring consistency and reliability of fiber supply across sources such as wood, agro residues, and recycled paper, how is your sourcing network structured (for example, through plantations, aggregators, depots, or import channels), and how do factors like region, seasonality, and infrastructure influence your strategy?
JS: For wood and agro fiber, the main variation is in pricing depending on the crop yield; quality variation is minimal since both are virgin fibers.
For waste paper, which we source primarily domestically, the key challenges are quality inconsistency due to mixing of various fiber types during collection and supply disruptions caused by dependence on manual waste collection and sorting — during festivals, elections, or harvest seasons, supply typically drops sharply. The only mitigation is to anticipate these periods and build up inventory in advance.
PM: To what extent are process improvements or technological interventions enabling you to optimize fiber utilization or expand sourcing flexibility, and could you share specific examples, along with any measurable impact, where technology has helped mitigate fiber constraints or improve efficiency?
JS: The primary objective in fiber processing is to produce pulp with minimum damage to the fiber. Over the years, significant advances have been made in both equipment and process chemicals. Yield from Indian waste paper alone has improved by approximately 10% over the past 20 years.
A major contributing factor has been our access to cost-effective Chinese technology — specifically the latest pulpers, pressure screens, and centrifugal cleaners. Western machinery is generally not viable at the scale at which Indian mills operate. Increasingly, Indian manufacturers are also producing state-of-the-art equipment locally, which is helping to reduce the capital expenditure required to improve fiber quality.
The primary objective in fiber processing is to produce pulp with minimum damage to the fiber. Over the years, significant advances have been made in both equipment and process chemicals and yield from Indian waste paper alone has improved by approximately 10% over the past 20 years.
PM: What have been the most significant shifts in your approach to fiber sourcing and management in recent years, and could you share a specific instance, particularly during a period of disruption, where you had to balance competing priorities such as cost, quality, and availability?
JS: One of the most significant shifts in our fiber sourcing approach has been the transition from a predominantly cost-focused model to a more resilience-driven strategy. Disruptions such as COVID-19, freight rate volatility, and evolving global waste paper regulations underscored the importance of diversified sourcing and supply security.
A defining example was during the COVID-19 period, when imported waste paper supplies were severely disrupted due to container shortages and port congestion, while domestic collection also weakened as a result of lockdowns and a sharp decline in newspaper circulation.
We had to simultaneously manage three competing priorities: availability, cost, and quality. Waste paper prices surged, but maintaining production continuity and fulfilling customer commitments remained paramount.
In response, we diversified procurement across multiple regions, expanded domestic sourcing despite quality variability, and worked closely with our production teams to optimize fiber blends and improve process efficiency. In several instances, we absorbed higher short-term costs and maintained elevated inventory levels to ensure stable operations. That period fundamentally changed our mindset — fiber sourcing is no longer viewed as a purely procurement function, but as a strategic capability centred on risk management, operational resilience, and long-term competitiveness.
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PM: How do you see fiber strategy evolving for Indian paper mills over the next decade, particularly in terms of self-reliance, import dependence, and the potential move toward more flexible or fiber-agnostic operating models, and which fiber source do you believe has the most scalable future in India?
JS: To sustain the demand of a country of our size, I believe we need to follow the path China has taken — placing greater emphasis on domestically produced pulp and systematically reducing our dependence on imported fiber. In 2017, China introduced the National Sword Policy, under which it significantly restricted imports of low-quality waste paper, tightening the permissible contamination level from 1.5% to 0.5%. It is only a matter of time before India adopts a similar policy, and we must be prepared for that eventuality.
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‘‘China introduced the National Sword Policy, under which it significantly restricted imports of low-quality waste paper, tightening the permissible contamination level from 1.5% to 0.5%. It is only a matter of time before India adopts a similar policy, and we must be prepared for that eventuality.’’
‘‘The European Union introduced a new regulation in 2024 called the European Union Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR), which aims at keeping scraps and recyclables within the EU in order to boost domestic fiber supply and support local EU mills. With increased regulatory scrutiny, it will become progressively more difficult for countries like India to import EU waste paper.’’
