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The Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) on Friday said that the consumption of paper and paperboard is set to double in the country up from 10 million tonnes per annum now to 20 million tonnes per annum by 2020.
“However, the growth of paper industry and its quest to attain global standards in terms of scale, quality and competitiveness has been constrained by shortage of raw material and its prohibitive cost and availability of energy at globally competitive prices,” Mr. Madhukar Mishra, President of IPMA, said.
Delivering his keynote address on “Making Indian Pulp and Paper Industry World Class,” at the two-day PaperTech 2011 here, Mr. Mishra said “there is apprehension that the demand-supply gap will be accentuated if we fail to address the need for adequate raw material and the issues related to reliable power at affordable globally competitive prices.”
The CII and IPMA are jointly hosting PaperTech 2011, their fifth annual conference. Mr. Mishra, who is also the Managing Director of Star Paper, emphasised the need for a more organised industry wide endeavour to improve efficiencies in production and bring down energy consumption.
“India is rated as the fastest growing paper market on the back of a comparatively healthy GDP growth. As per projections, the paper and paperboards industry is expected be 20 million tonnes by 2020 and 40 million tonnes by 2030 with an annual rate of 8 per cent. This opens up huge capacity build up to meet the emerging demand,” he said.
Fresh capacity
The paper industry added two million tonnes of fresh capacity with an investment of Rs.10,000 crore in the last three years. However, with the economic growth, energy shortage is staring the sector, he said.
The Deputy Managing Director of Seshasayee Paper and Boards Limited, and Chairman of PaperTech 2011, Mr. K.S.Kasi Viswanathan, said “the IPMA manual will bring together best practices through case studies. More than 150-200 best practices would be compiled for industry players to adopt. These cover various issues elating to environment, water and power consumption.”
A working group has been constituted to address various conservation issues. The focus is on energy efficiency and disseminating information about PAT (performance, achieve and trade) scheme announced by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency for the energy intensive sectors. This is as per guidelines of the National Action Plan on Climate Change.
Mr.T.S.Appa Rao, Principal Secretary, Industries, AP, said with India emerging as a knowledge capital, the paper sector has immense potential. He outlined some of the incentives provided under the State’s industrial policy.
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