ITC to set up enco-friendly paper manufacturing plant

New Delhi: ITC Ltd plans to invest Rs2,500 crore during the next two-three years towards putting up a greenfield elemental chlorine-free (ECF) pulp and paper plant which would increase its annual paper and paperboard manufacturing capacity to 5.5 lakh tonne, a top company official said today.

Company officials said that they were in the final stages of the ECF project and were looking for a site location for the plant in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The final decision regarding the two-lakh tonne ECF plant location would be taken in a month's time, they indicated.

The ECF plant would be developed as an integrated pulp and paper mill with an investment of Rs2,500 crore over the next two-three years. ITC has invested about Rs750 crore in the PSP division till now.

ITC's paper division had a turnover of Rs1,500 crore with profit margin of Rs250 crore in the last fiscal. The division has four production units across the country that produces a range of paper, paperboards and ECF materials. At present, the division has a production capacity of 3.5 lakh tonne for paper and about 1 lakh tonne for ECF paper materials.

Meanwhile, ITC also announced that Bikanervala Foods has become the first sweetmeat brand to switch over to ITC's ECF packaging material in the country. The company is focussing on FMCG, foods, pharma and textile industries as fast growing segments for its ECF range of value-added products.