“The enhanced pulping capacity would help the company to replace the costlier purchased pulp and reduce the overall cost of manufacturing per tonne of paper in the unit at Tirunelveli and the Servalakshmi unit,” Seshasayee Paper said in a regulatory filing.
The company has filed the necessary applications with the Ministry of Environment and Forests for Climate Change for Environment Clearances, Seshasayee Paper and Boards Ltd said today.
The Erode-based company said the environmental clearances for project Mill Development Plan IV in the company’s manufacturing facility in Erode was to augment paper capacity from 1.65 lakh tonne to 2.31 lakh tonne per annum and pulp capacity from 1.80 lakh tonne to 2.52 lakh tonne per annum.
The project is expected to be completed in 30 months after securing the necessary environmental clearances.
Seshasayee Paper and Boards Ltd chairman N Gopalaratnam while addressing the shareholders at the 63rd annual general meeting, said the company has initiated steps including an increased focus on green energy, setting up newer plants and processes for a reduction in emissions, reduction in chemical consumption, the pursuit of organic and growth opportunities to augment pulp and paper production. On the outlook for the paper industry, he said paper consumption in the domestic market was likely to witness 6-7 per cent annual growth to reach 30 million tonne by FY2026-27 largely driven by education and literacy coupled with growth in organised retail trade. The paper industry holds immense potential for growth in India, he said.
However, he said the domestic paper industry has been plagued by challenges which include the non-availability of wood and a surge in the import of paper at ‘nil duties’ from overseas.
Maintaining that an estimated five lakh farmers were engaged in growing plantations of Eucalyptus, Casuarina and Acacia, he said about 1.25 lakh hectares were brought under agro-farm forestry on an annual basis with around 12 lakh hectares on a cumulative basis across the country. This has generated significant employment opportunities for the local community, especially in rural areas, he said.
However, the chairman said the lack of adequate land has been a major constraint in enhancing wood production by the industry.
The government should consider the long pending appeal by the industry and make available some part of the country’s degraded forest land, and non-forest government land available in the paper industry for pulpwood plantation under collaborative arrangement, he said.
Imports of paper and paperboard have become a ‘major challenge’ as it has jumped from Rs 7,839 crore in FY22 to Rs 11,513 crore in FY23 according to the data provided by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.
The duty-free import of paper renders domestic paper ‘non-competitive’ thereby endangering the sustainability of the paper industry, he pointed out.
