The Hindu Business Line : Hind Paper lines up expansion plans

Kolkata April 18 Despite recording growth on the operational and financial fronts in 2006-07, the State-owned Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) is finding "extreme difficulty" in extraction, collection and transportation of raw material (primarily bamboo) for its two operating paper mills in Assam due to insurgency-related problems and infrastructure inadequacies in the North-Eastern region.

The Chairman of HPC, Mr Raji Philip, told newspersons on Wednesday that unless these problems are solved immediately, the process of economic development in the North-Eastern States was bound to be slowed.

However, in spite of all odds, HPC is committed to making fresh investment of about Rs 660 crore for modernisation and technological upgradation of paper mills at Naogaon and Cachar in Assam.

The corporation has three operating mills in all and a wholly owned subsidiary called Hindustan Newsprint Ltd (HNL) in Kerala.

The three mills achieved total production of 3.28 lakh tonnes in 2006-07, exceeding combined installed capacity of about three lakh tonnes per annum.

During the fiscal ended March 31, 2007 it posted an all-time high pre-tax profit of Rs 150 crore on sales turnover of Rs 1,089 crore.

Mr Philip said that HPC has set a target of 3.33 lakh tonnes of production for the current fiscal and is aiming at sales turnover of Rs 1,200 crore.

Of the targeted production, 2.18 lakh tonnes would comprise writing and printing paper from the Assam mills and the Kerala-based subsidiary would contribute 1.15 lakh tonnes of newsprint.

Similarly, the corporation has set an ambitious target of eight lakh tonnes of combined production and sales turnover of Rs 3,000 crore for 2011-12.

The target would be achieved by expanding 30 per cent capacity at the Naogaon mill, which has existing installed capacity of one lakh tonnes per annum.

HNL's installed production capacity would be raised to three lakh tonnes by November 2008 through implementation of a Rs 719-crore modernisation and expansion programme.

The Chairman indicated that HPC has plans to explore the export market in a big way and bring in tissue technology from Brazil for producing high-yielding varieties of saplings for its captive plantation.

It has already approached the Ministry of External Affairs for signing a protocol with Bangladesh so that paper products from the Assam mills can be exported through the land route.

An exclusive trading point for paper was sought at Sutarkandi in Karimganj district of Assam for export to Bangladesh.

Similarly, efforts are being made to explore markets in West Asia, Sri Lanka and West Asian countries for newsprint.

HPC's another wholly owned subsidiary at Tuli in Nagaland, which has remained out of production since October 1992, would be revived; this mill's annual installed capacity would be doubled to 60,000 tonnes.

Besides, a greenfield paper mill in Uttar Pradesh with a capacity of three lakh tonnes per annum is to be set up at an investment of Rs 2,600 crore.

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