The Hindu Business Line : Emami Paper to invest Rs 350 cr to raise capacity

EMAMI Paper Mills Ltd (EPM), one of the major domestic newsprint manufacturers, has finalised a Rs 350-crore investment plan to increase its daily production from 150 tonnes to 400 tonnes by December 2006. The additional capacity will be created at its Balasore mill in Orissa.

Emami Paper has two mills, one near the city with a daily production capacity of 50 tonne of newsprint and the other at Balasore with a capacity of 110 tonne per day comprising about 30 tonne of writing and printing paper and about 80 tonne newsprint. The company largely uses imported waste paper. It now contemplates using waste newspaper available locally.

A director of the company told Business Line that a modern de-inking plant was being installed at Balasore along with new paper-making machine, facilitating the use of waste newsprint as raw material.

The director said that of the total projected investment, about Rs 115 crore would be sourced from internal sources while the balance amount would be arranged from financial institutions. The company may not expand its paid-up capital of Rs 12 crore, at least during the current expansion plan, he said.

Along with the expansion programme, the company has initiated a move to make its presence felt in the Western region. It has, thus, taken a strategic decision to acquire running paper mills in Gujarat or Maharashtra, with good infrastructure facilities. He said that the company would not mind acquiring even sick mills with good infrastructure. The company plans to invest about Rs 500-crore to develop a paper mill in the Western region.

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