Emami Paper Mills aims to increase production with plant in Bharuch, Gujarat

The country's largest newsprint producer Emami Paper Mills Friday announced an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in Gujarat to set up a 2.25-lakh tonne per annum multilayer coated packaging board manufacturing plant along with a captive power plant at the Saykha industrial area here. 

The facility will be spread over an area of around 103 acres at the GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation) estate, about 110 km from Vadodara and the first phase will be completed by early 2020. In the second phase, the company will double its capacity with an additional Rs 1,000 crore investment, the company said. 

Chief minister Vijay Rupani laid the foundation stone for the project, which has already received the necessary environmental clearance from the state. 

The minister also announced setting up of two high-level panels to fast-track investments. While a panel headed by the chief minister will oversee projects above Rs 500 crore investments, another panel headed by the chief secretary will monitor those projects involving investments of under Rs 500 crore, the minister said. 

Aditya Agarwal, a director at Emami group, said his company is the largest producer of newsprint in the country and a leading producer of multilayer packaging board with an annual capacity of 3. 35 lakh tonne. 

"Once the Bharuch plant is commissioned total production capacity of Emami Papers will increase by another 2.25 lakh tonne and will generate an additional business of around Rs 1,000 crore," Agarwal said, adding the first phase of the project also will have an 18 mw captive power plant. 

"We target to complete the first phase of the project by early 2020 and commence our commercial production in the first half of the same year," Agrawal said and expressed hope that this project will play a key role in establishing Emami Paper as one of the largest packaging board manufacturers in the country. 

PS Patwari, chief executive at Emami Paper Mills, said they are the largest newsprint manufacturer in the country supplying to almost all leading dailies. 

In 2015, the group diversified into packaging board by setting up a plant in Balasore, Odisha. 

Currently, it has a production capacity of 3.35 lakh tonne per annum which comprise 1.55 lakh tonne of newsprint and writing-printing paper and 1.80 lakh tonne of paperboards.