The Sirpur Paper Mills Limited, which has seen an investment of about ₹700 crore since it was taken over by JK Paper Limited in August 2018, is on course to recovery as it steps up production by the year end.
The company, which was taken over by JK Paper through a Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of National Company Law Tribunal Hyderabad, in a structured deal of ₹371 crore, is expected to turn corner by the fiscal end.
Revival mode
Located in Komaram Bheem Asifabad (erstwhile Adilabad) district at Kagaznagar, it is now on revival mode with trial production stabilising, further refurbishment and upgradation under the new management.
AK Mehta, President and Executive Director of JK Paper, said “After we took over the paper company we had many surprises and we had to take up lot of refurbishment and upgradation by making new investments in boilers and related infrastructure.”
“However, even as the trial production was underway, we encountered more problems forcing us to shut down for further upgradation. Then as we resumed production, during the Covid first wave, we had to shut the plant from March to November. After forced shut down, we started production and it is now functioning at 70 per cent capacity, which is good given the tough scenario,” he told BusinessLine .
Full production
“We are investing in a New Chipping Unit and further improvement and upgradation, all of them will be over by the end of third quarter of this fiscal, enabling us to go for full production. The Paper Mill has capacity to produce 1.36 lakh tonnes of paper per annum,” he said.
The takeover of the company was facilitated by the active intervention of the Telangana government. The paper production from the mill was suspended in September 2014.
The paper mill was set up on a 110 acre site by Nizam Mir Osman Khan in 1936.
The JK Paper management sees this as a strategic acquisition to expand its existing line of paper business.