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Paper Industry wants incentives for investing in chlorine-free
technology
Kolkata, February 8: The Indian paper industry, which has recently come
back to the growth mode with an annual growth rate of five per cent from a
decline in production three years back, is now grappling with the problem of
implementing the environment norms as laid down in the Kyoto Protocol of the
World Trade Organization.
The industry will have to replace the chlorine-based process of pulp
manufacturing with Elementary Chlorine Free Technology (ECFT) to ensure
hazards-free environment or invite penalty, according to Mr. Pradeep
Dhabale, President of Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association (IPPTA).
"Installation of ECFT requires an investment of Rs. 40 to 50 crore for
each paper unit, and barring a few none of the 550 paper units in the
country has the financial capability to invest such a big amount," said
Mr. Dhabale, who is also the chief executive of Paperboards and Speciality
Papers Division of ITC.
Mr. Dhabale said although the Union department of environment and forests
had allowed five years time under the guidelines of Corporate Responsibility
for Environmental Protection to adopt a chlorine-free pulp technology,
unless the government provided some financial incentives, the majority of
the paper plants would not be able to implement the norms.
He said ITC had already installed ECFT and two other large paper units -
Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd. and Tamil Nadu Papers and Newsprint Ltd -
were on their way to doing it. All the other manufactures are still
struggling to arrange funds.
Mr. Dhabale observed that the government should consider extending fiscal
benefits in the form of excise duty exemption, or income-tax reliefs and
punishments for not implementing the norms should be mered out only if some
such incentives were there.
Supporting Mr. Dhabale's proposal, Manabendra Mukherjee, Bengals's minister
for information technology and environment, said in his inaugural speech
that industrial pollution was a social issue and therefore the government
should not close any industry to solve environmental problems. (The
Financial Express, Kolkata, 9.2.2004)
Bamboo now on horti-crops list
(New Delhi, Feb. 16).
The government has decided to include bamboo in the list of horticultural
crops, in a move that would propel the broad-based development of all
species of the grass as a plantation crop, attracting fresh investments. The
Union agricultural ministry for implementing the national mission on bamboo
technology and trade development, would shortly notify the change, according
to official sources. (The Economic Times, Kolkata, 17.2.2004)
Govt. adds more items under SAPTA duty concession list
(New Delhi, February 28).
The Government has expanded the list of items that can be imported from the
other six signatories to the SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) at
preferential import duties.
Besides India, the other signatories to SAPTA are Bangladesh, Bhutan, the
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Tariff concessions have also been deepened on certain items that already
enjoy preferential import tariffs for imports into India from these six
SAARC member countries.
Hand made paper, cartons, boxes of paper and paperboards, registers,
notebooks, exercise books are among the new items that can be imported into
India from March 1 at a preferential tariff under SAPTA.
Informed sources said that the import duty concession has been pegged at 10
per cent of the applied rate of customs duty for these items.
While such tariff concessions are aimed at enhancing intra-SAARC trade,
some trade experts pointed out this may result in relocation of some of the
industries to the neighbouring countries. (Business Line, Chennai,
29.02.2004)
Finland's Metso plans footprint in India
Kolkata: Metso Paper Como SPA, part of the euro 4.7 billion Metso
Corporation of Finland is mulling over setting up a pulp mill and paper
making machines assembling unit in India.
However, prior to that, it would set up its own subsidiary in India. Metso
Corporation already has a subsidiary in India through its group concern,
Metso Minerals.
The latter is one of the world's leading supplier of rock and minerals
processing systems. It also delivers drilling equipment, rollers, paving
machines, among others used for road construction.
Meanwhile, Metso Paper currently imports pulp mill and paper making
machineries from its plants located in Finland and Sweden. Its product range
include effluent treatment plant, bleaching plants, equipments for
pollution-free pulp production, among others.
According to the director of Metso Paper, George Erik Kreutzman, the
company's business volume was $10 million last year and is expected to
double this year.
Moreover, as Kreutzman pointed out, the Indian paper industry is slated to
invest over $1 billion by 2008 on modernization and Metso is looking at
least $ 100-200 million worth of business potential from India. The Indian
paper industry spent over $50 million last year and almost 90 per cent was
on pulp mill modernization," he informed.
Metso Paper, incidentally, has a subsidiary in China where it makes paper
and board making lines to cater to the local market. "Unlike India, the
Chinese invest in paper machines and import pulp from South-East Asian
countries," he informed while adding that Indian companies invest
mostly on their pulp mills. The company's business volume in China is $ 600
million.
It may be mentioned that the per capita consumption of paper in India is
around 5 kg while it is 30 kg in China and 250 kg in USA.
India's total paper and board production is estimated to be 5.8 million
tonne per annum while the annual production of the world is around 300
million tonne (The Times of India, Kolkata, 3.3.2004).
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