List of Paper Companies,Stocks in India – Major Manufacturers,Paper Industry Issues,Growth and Paper Recycling in India

The Indian Paper Industry makes a small 1.5% of the global production of paper and parperboard with a size of around 5.5 billion dollars. The industry was delicenced in 1997 by the Government of India and made  foreign participation  permissible. Most of the paper mills are in existence for a long time and hence present technologies fall in a wide spectrum ranging from oldest to the most modern.The mills use a variety of raw material eg. wood, bamboo, recycled fibre, bagasse, wheat straw, rice husk and recycled fibre. India is the fastest growing market for paper globally with paper consumption set to rise with the economic growth and is estimated to touch 14 million tons in the next 5 years (Source IPMA)

Paper Recycling in India

Paper Recycling has several benefits. Using recycled paper to make new paper reduces the number of trees that are cut down, conserving natural resources. In some instances, recycling services are cheaper than trash-disposal services. Recycling paper saves landfill space and reduces the amount of pollution in the air from incineration. In India, however only about 20% waste paper is being currently recovered annually. Low recovery is on account of alternate use of paper in wrapping, packing, etc. Lack of source segregation results in waste paper getting contaminated and becoming unusable.
In comparison in developed countries the percentage of recovery of waste paper is very high. For instance in Germany it is 73%,  Japan 60%,  USA 49% and Italy 45 %.  Sri Jayalakshmi Enterprises, a Chennai based enterprise is one of the leading company in the recycling of old paper and cardboard for final recycling.

Issues with Paper Industry

• Wood: Indian wood resources are limited therefore, cost of wood is much higher in global comparison.
• Bagasse/ Straw: Though annual availability of agro residues is large yet, this may not be able to sustain the future growth of the Industry.Moreover, bagasse is increasingly used by sugar mills for co-generation of power.
• Waste Paper: The recovery rate works out to about 20% which is much lower in comparison with 65% recovery achieved by many global players. Low recovery is on account of alternate use of paper in wrapping, packing, etc.
• Energy Cost: Cost of coal is escalating and prospect of availability of quality coal is diminishing. Also, power purchased from the grid is proving expensive for the industry.

Major Paper companies in India are:

1. Ballarpur Industries Ltd. – With a market cap of Rs.2,300crores , Ballarpur Industries is one of the largest paper companies in India. It recorded a sales turnover of around Rs.4,000 crores with a net profit margin of 5% (Jun 2010). Bilt Paper s focused on the manufacture of bulk coated and uncoated paper and viscous grade fibre while the rest of the Ballarpur Group focuses on the manufacture of copier paper, speciality paper and tissue paper, Retail and OSSB. Members of the Avantha Group own 49.40% of the issued share capital of Ballarpur. Ballarpur Industries is also listed on the BSE  and National Stock Exchanges in India.
2. Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd. – With a market cap of Rs.1,244 crores, APPM is one of the biggest, integrated pulp and paper manufacturing companies in India. The turnover of the company was Rs.670 crores & net profit margin 8% as on March 2010. It took over Coastal Papers Ltd in 2001. Its production capacity is 1,74,000 TPA. The takeover of APMM by a foreign paper company International Paper with a substantial premium has raised the valuations of the other paper companies listed in India.
3. Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Papers Ltd. – TNPL makes paper primarily from Bagasse, namely sugarcane waste using as little wood as possible.TNPL exports about 1/5th of its production to more than 30 countries.The Company  completed a  Mill Expansion Plan in 2010  to increase the mill capacity to 4,00,000 TPA. It has a market capitalisation of Rs.900 crores & recorded a Sales turnover of Rs.1090 crores, with net profit margin of 12% (Mar 2010).
4. Rainbow Papers – With a market cap of Rs.547 crores, Rainbow today is one of the fastest growing corporations in the Indian Paper Industry. It offers a plethora of world class products ranging from Duplex to File Board, from writing paper to Art Card and from packaging and Electric grade crepe to Decorative tissues crepe. They recycle and reuse water resources. The sales turnover was 280 crores & net profit margin was 8.5% (Mar 2010).
5. West Coast Paper Mills – The market cap of the company is Rs.540 crores. It achieved a sales turnover of Rs.650 crores with a net profit margin of 8.5% (Mar 2010).The production capacity is 3,20,000 TPA.It was the first in India to use 100% hardwood in place of 100% bamboo.
6. JK Paper L – With a market cap of Rs.455 crores, it is part of one of India’s leading business houses – JK organisation which has significant presence in Cement & Tyres. India’s largest producer of branded papers & a leading player in fine papers & packaging board segments. Nearly 95% of the Company’s product mix comprises high value products marketed under various popular brand names like ‘JK Copier’, ‘JK Bond’, ‘Cedar’ etc. JIt recorded a sales turnover of 1300 crores, with a net profit margin of 7% (Mar2010).
7. Seshasayee Paper & Boards – The flagship company belonging to ‘ESVIN GROUP’. The market cap of the company is Rs.275 crores & it achieved a sales turnover of Rs.500 crores with a net profit margin of 7.5% (Mar 2010). The furnish mix for the existing Paper Machines of the Company is 55% bagasse and 45% hardwood.
8. Rama Newsprint & Paper -With a market cap of Rs.109 crores, Rama Newsprint and Papers is India’s largest private sector Newsprint and Printing & Writing paper manufacturing facility at a single location, having an installed capacity of  1,44,000 tonnes . The sales turnover was Rs.300 crores (Mar 2010).

Other Major Paper and Pulp Manufactuers are Century,Orient Paper Mills,ITC Bhadrachalam,Emami and Abhishek Industries.They are not pure play paper companies but manufacture other products as well such as FMCG,Texiles,Cigarette etc.