The Hindu Business Line : Newsprint sector betting big on new launches in print media

The demand for newsprint is expected to go up to two million tonnes within the next two years from the present annual demand of 1.4-1.5 million tonnes, thanks to new launches of newspapers/publications, according to Mr Raji Philip, Chairman of Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC). He is also the President of the Newsprint Manufacturers Association of India.

HPC itself has chalked up capacity expansion project of its newsprint subsidiary Hindustan Newsprints Ltd in Kerala by ramping up its installed capacity from one lakh tonnes to three lakh tonnes at an outlay of Rs 700 crore.

But the HPC Chairman felt that the trend of higher newsprint imports seen at present is more to do with the `abysmally low' rate of customs duty on the newsprint than with the capability of domestic newsprint industry meeting the demand.

"There is actually no dearth in the production capacity and combined installed capacity of all the 69 newsprint producers figuring in the scheduled -I of the newsprint control order works out to 1.4 million tonnes against the actual demand of 1.5 million tonnes," Mr Philip said.

Therefore, it is a misconception to say that the higher import is on account of production bottlenecks faced by the Indian newsprint manufacturers, he added.

Last fiscal, the total newsprint consumption in the country was 1.2 million tonnes and this was met through supply of seven lakh tonnes from the domestic industry and the remaining five lakh tonnes by way of import.

The HPC Chairman said that the current duty of 5 per cent levied on imports gave a handle for the global players to dump their newsprint into India. In order to provide a level playing field for the domestic producers, the customs duty on newsprint should be raised to 20 per cent, he added.

Mr Philip and other officials of HPC were here to attend an international technical conference on pulp and paper industry.

Talking to newsmen at the sidelines of the conference, Mr Philip said that HPC has proposed to set up a greenfield integrated paper project in UP that would involve in production of high-ended paper products. The corporation has commissioned a Finnish consultant Jaakko to prepare the detailed project report, which is expected to be ready soon.

HPC which has proposed the capacity expansion plan for its newsprint unit in Kerala at an outlay of Rs 700 crore is also involved in modernisation of its two integrated paper plants in Assam at a cost of Rs 750 crore.

The work on the newsprint unit expansion project is expected to take off by the end of this fiscal and the whole project would be through by 2008.

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