JK Papers recently acquired Sirpur Paper Mills Limited (SPML), located in the Kaghzanagar area in Adilabad, Telangana. The Sirpur Paper Mills, which recently went bankrupt, is an integrated paper and pulp mill which commenced operations in 1938 under the Nizam’s rule. Following the acquisition, JK Papers will be investing an additional Rs. 400 crore in SPML. The president of JK Papers also said that operations are expected to resume in about six months. The company will also take up an expansion project at its Gujarat unit for putting up packaging board capacity of 1.5 lakh tons and pulp mill of 1.4 lakh tons per annum with other utilities with an estimated investment of about Rs. 1,450 crore.
The recent acquisition will more than double JK Paper’s uncoated printing and writing paper capacity. It will also supplement its product portfolio, including some speciality products. The acquisition will add around 1.4 lakh metric ton, taking the combined capacity to about 6 lakh metric tons. An additional investment of Rs. 350-400 crores will be made over the next 2-3 years towards restructuring of the closed unit and working capital.
Besides SPML, JK Papers is undertaking an expansion project at its unit CPM located in Gujarat to put up a packaging board capacity of 1.5 lakh tons per annum. The company has exported paperboard products to over 54 countries during the year under review, including the US, the UK, Sri Lanka, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, West Asian countries and Africa. Although strategically the company will continue to export to various geographies. Its prime area of focus will remain the Indian market.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.
The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.
Web analytics show that we now have readership in North America and Europe amongst the 90 countries where our five platforms reach. Our traffic which more than doubled in 2020, has at times gone up by another 50% in 2021. And advertising which had fallen to pieces in 2020 and 2021, has started its return since January 2022.
As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.
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– Naresh Khanna
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