The Hindu : TNPL planning major expansion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 05, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

TNPL planning major expansion

By Our Special Correspondent

Coimbatore July 4. The Tamil Nadu Newsprints Ltd. is planning a major expansion which will make it the largest paper mill in the country, the Minister for Industries, Nainar Nagendran, announced here today.

Inaugurating a two-day zonal seminar on `Maintenance in pulp and paper mills', organised by the Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association, he said the TNPL, which had an initial capacity of 90,000 tonnes per annum, was now producing 2.3 lakh tonnes.

The recent capacity expansion of 50,000 tonnes was inaugurated by the Chief Minister in March. Now it was proposed to expand the capacity to 3.3 lakh tonnes per annum on an outlay of Rs. 750 crores.

The TNPL was using bagasse considering the need for conserving forest resources. It would utilise the recent scheme of converting barren land into cultivating land and plant pulp wood on 1,500 acres.

Mr.Nagendran said the per capita consumption of paper in the country was just five kg, much lower than Asia and world average.

The demand for growth was around six per cent. "There is good potential for growth for every paper mill in the country through modernisation and expansion." In the context of globalisation, every mill should be cost competitive and prepare itself to withstand intensive competition.

However, the Indian industry was highly fragmented, with the capacity ranging from five to 750 tonnes a day. In view of the difference in size, there was a technology and knowledge gap among the mills.

In Tamil Nadu, owing to prolonged drought, the paper mills were facing severe water shortage.

He urged technocrats to find ways of bringing down water consumption in paper manufacture.

Later talking to presspersons, the former president of the IPPTA , N.Gopalarathnam, and the present chief, Pradeep Dhobale, hailed the Wasteland Development Programme as a boon to the industry.

They pointed out that at present four lakh tonnes of pulpwood in Tamil Nadu was used by the mills in the State, while those in other States were buying 1-1.5 lakh tonnes from Tamil Nadu. "Though the mills in Tamil Nadu have adequate raw material now, competition from mills from other States is jacking up the price".

Hence, if the TNPL venture of raising pulpwood on 1,500 acres (which would approximately produce 10,000 tonnes of wood) succeeded, even other State Governments might emulate Tamil Nadu, allowing wasteland to be used for raising pulp tree. " Though it takes six to seven years for trees to grow, we will be able to assess their growth and potential within even three years," they added.

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