Mobile scratch cards boost ITC paperboard biz - Financial Chronicle
October 19, 2011
ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division (PSPD), part of the ITC Group, is hopeful of the demand for value added paper increasing largely due to the growth in the telecom sector.
"Our focus is on value-added products. The manufacturing facilities will be ramped in the proposed expansion plans, where new units will come near our existing facilities at Bhadrachalam," said Sanjay K Singh, divisional chief executive, ITC PSPD.
The growth in the telecom sector and the FMCG segments is auguring well for the company. ITC is now the market leader in supplying the coated paper on which the pre-paid and other smart cards are printed. There is also demand from the retail segment where several players are launching more offers based on scratch cards," he said.
The paperboards, paper and packaging segment of ITC contributed Rs 3,667 crore to the group, growing at 13 per cent. The demand for paper products is resurging in Western Europe and North America while Asian and Latin American economies are the major growth areas. The value-added paperboard segment is growing around 15 per cent, compared to eight per cent growth that the entire domestic paperboard industry has witnessed last year, he said.
The domestic paper industry is estimated at 10.3 million tonne per annum and out of this the paperboard demand is estimated around 2.3 million tonne. ITC has 26 per cent market share in this segment, Singh said adding that the share in the value-added paperboard segment is even higher.
On the plans to set up a paper mill together with waste management company Ramky Enviro Engineers, part of Rs 6,000 crore Ramky Group, he said it might take two years. The plant would be using the waste paper collected through the wealth out of waste (WOW) project, which collects the waste paper for recycling.
