Mr Partha Chatterjee, State Minister for Commerce and Industries, has said that the West Bengal government was keen on reopening the closed units and setting up new paper mills.
The paper industry should, however, look at modernization by bringing in new technology to enhance its productivity, he said.
“Mere opening of the mills will not serve the purpose, the growth in the industry will happen only when there is sufficient infusion of funds and required technology,” Mr Chatterjee said while speaking at the 93rd annual general meeting of the Calcutta Paper Traders' Association (CPTA) here on Saturday.
In terms of production of paper, eastern region lags behind all other regions accounting for just about 18 per cent of the country's total production despite the availability of raw material, he said. The northern region accounts for 34 per cent, west – 27 per cent, south – 21 per cent, he pointed out.
It was essential to highlight the key issues confronting the industry and bring it to the notice of the core committee set up the state government, which has representatives from all the chambers of commerce.
The position of West Bengal in paper production has dwindled to a great extent with most of the giant paper mills in the state having been closed down, said Mr Subhash Saha, President, CPTA.
The depreciation of rupee against the dollar would exert pressure on margins of the paper industry, said Mr S N Venkataraman, Vice President, Marketing, ITC Ltd, Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division. “A weak rupee will have an impact on the margins as the industry imports fibre and chemicals, however, this will be a temporary blip,” he said.
ITC plans to double its production capacity to one million tonne per annum (six lakh tonne per annum) by 2015. “We are looking at brownfield expansion in our Bhadrachalam unit where we plan to add one lakh tonne per annum capacity and greenfield expansion by setting up of a new pulp mill in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.