The Paperboards and Speciality Papers Division of the diversified ITC Ltd plans to develop about 40,000 hectares more over the next three-four years to meet the raw material requirement for its expansion project coming up with an outlay of about Rs 3,000 crore.

ITC is awaiting land allotment of 1,000 acres from Andhra Pradesh Government for expansion of its pulp and paper manufacturing complex at the temple town of Bhadrachalam located along river Godavari.

This expansion project would double the manufacturing capacity from existing 5 lakh tonnes per annum to one million tonne per annum. The company is also investing about Rs 1,110 crore for upgradation and addition of about 1 lakh tonne per annum.

Mr Sanjay K. Singh, Division Chief Executive, ITC PSPD, told Business Line at Iravendi village near Bhadrachalam that ITC is awaiting allotment of 1,000 acres adjacent to the existing unit. Once this process is completed, ITC expects to secure necessary clearances for the expansion.

This is part of the company's strategy to achieve a capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum within four-five years.

He said ITC was keen on acquisition but nothing has materialised as yet.

Raw material security

“We are in the business of pulp and paper and need good quality pulp. Since we cannot own land due to restrictions imposed by the Government, we have developed an ecosystem where local tribals are encouraged to cultivate through the social forestry initiative. Over the years, this has grown big. We have helped develop plantations in over 1,10,000 hectares in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

ITC is facilitating the addition of about 10,000 hectares a year. The company itself needs 10,000-12,000 hectares per year. This gets replenished with new plantations. In the next for years, ITC plans to take this up to 1,50,000 hectares, he said.

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