17th September 1949 ECONOMIC WEEKLY

after that war large foreign The Paper Industry imports were dumped on the market. The paper industry Its Present Position and Prospects could neither take advantage of the shortage of paper supplies STATIST during 1914-18 nor could it with­ stand the onslaught of dumping THERE are at present 16 paper BOARD MILLS in the post-war period by foreign Mills in India with a potential interests. The industry clearly capacity of producing just over 1. Straw Board Manufacturing Co.. stood in need of support on the Ltd., Saharanpur, U.P. 100,000 tons of writing, Governmental level. The Indian 2. Straw Products Ltd., BhopaL and wrapping and boards. 3. Jaswant Straw Board Mills Ltd., Paper Co., which came into There are about 9 major Boards Mcerut, U.P. existence during the war took and Straw Boards Mills. Among 4. Standard Board and Paper Mills the intiative in applying for pro­ Ltd., Dum Dum, Bengal. the paper mills, Rohtas Industries tective duties on imported paper. 5. India Paper and Board Mills Ltd., And the Government responded Ltd., Orient Paper Mills Ltd., Calcutta, Bengal. Upper India Couper Paper Mills 6. Pioneer Paper and Pulp Mills by asking the Tariff Board to en­ Ltd., and Gujarat Paper Mills Ltd., Calcutta, Bengal. quire into the matter. 7. Rewa Board Mills Ltd., Rewa. Ltd., are also manufacturers of From 1924-25 onwards, the Board. The total production Hand-made paper has been year of the first enquiry, the capacity of these is over 50,000 made in India for centuries. The Tariff Board has conducted en­ tons. first mill for machine-made paper quiries on the Paper Industry The names of the 16 paper mills was established in Bally near every seven years. The protec­ and the main Board mills are Calcutta in 1870. Although this tion granted to printing and given below: Company went into liquidation in writing paper by the Bamboo 1905, the possibilities of the paper Paper Industry (Protection) Act PAPER MILLS industry were fully demonstrat­ of 1925 certainly led to increased 1. *Upper India Couper Mills Ltd.. ed, and the lead was followed by indigenous production. But the Lucknow, U.P. (1879). more hardy successors. most outstanding landmark in 2. Titaghur Paper Mills. Titaghur. the history of the Paper Industry Bengal, (1882). But production has never over­ was the protective duty of Rs. 45 3. Titaghur Paper Mills, Kankinarah, taken demand. The following per ton imposed on imported pulp Bengal (1882). production figures from 1914 on­ by the Bamboo Paper Industry 4. Deccan Paper Mills Ltd., Poona, wards give a rough idea of the Bombay (1884). (Protection) Act of 1932. progress of the industry. 5. Bengal Paper Mills Ltd., Raniganj, Bengal (1889). With the protective duty on im­ 6. India Paper Pulp Ltd., Naihati, Paper Production ported pulp, the Indian Paper Bengal (1918). industry came into its own. As 7. Andhra .s Ltd., Rajah­ the effects of this duty made mundry, Madras (1925?). themselves felt, the reliance on 8. Punalur Paper Mills Ltd.. Puna- lur, Travancore (191). imported pulp was recognised as 9. Mysore Paper Mills Ltd., Bhadra- a very unsatisfactory element in vati, Mysore (1936), the situation. A tropical country 10. *Orient Paper Mills Ltd., Samball- like India with large reserves of pur Dist., Orissa (1936). 11. *Rohtas Industries Ltd., Dalmia- luxuriant vegetation should not nagar, Bihar (196). have to depend on external 12. Star Paper Mills Ltd.. Saharanpur, sources for the production of U.P. (1936). paper, which is nothing but a 13. Shree Gopal Paper Mills Ltd., Ja- thin felted material formed from gadhri, Punjab (1938). 14. Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd., Sirpur. macerated vegetable fibre. The Hyderabad (Dn.), (1939). forests of Assam, the Central 15. *Gujarat Paper Mills Ltd., Ahme- During World War I, the paper Provinces, the Himalayas and the dabad, Bombay. industry suffered from the cur­ Western Ghas are rich in material 16. Pudumjee Paper Mills Ltd., Bom­ tailment of imports of wood pulp. for the manufacture of paper. It bay. (*produce board also). On the other hand, immediately is to the credit of India that her

13 ECONOMIC WEEKLY 17th September 1949 research on bamboo has proved abundance along the sub- dance and the universality of the its fitness for the production of Himalayan belt of the country raw materials for making paper pulp. There are various other from the Punjab to Assam. and board of all sorts, it is a sources in the forests of India Bamboo is available in large supererogatory task to set up which will serve just as well as quantities all over the country, fresh Commissions and appoint bamboo. and the fact that the rotation of special officers for a survey of Wholehearted support and the bamboo crop is of four to the materials, as the Panel re­ stimulation of the paper industry five .years gives to bamboo an commends. by the Tariff Board would have, advantage over the spruce and The total world production of long before World War II, made pine which are the alternative in 1948 was about 7½ India one of the largest manufac­ sources. million tons. Sixty per cert of turers of paper in Asia. The ''India's linseed crops furnish this was produced by Canada and phenomenal expansion of the 20 lakh tons of linseed straw Newfoundland. India does not sugar industry and the emergence every year. The sugar indus­ produce any newsprint but she of India as one of the most im­ try produces more than 3 lakh consumes about 50,000 tons. It is portant sugar-producing countries tons of begasse for which the probable that there will be a in the world in the thirties should only use at present is as fuel. sharp rise in the consumption have suggested ideas to the Tariff Kans growing wild over vast figures of India in the coming Board. But the policy of tracts of uncultivated land is years. "gradualness" vitiated the Tariff regarded as a menace but is a There is at present under con­ Board's attitude and the Industry potential raw material for the struction one Newsprint Mill in has toddled all these years from paper industry."—Dr. S. S. Chanda in the Central Provinces. childhood to adolescence in a per­ Bhatnagar. The sponsors of the scheme have petually undernourished condi­ It is calculated that 2.5 tons of been able to enlist the active sup­ tion. As with sugar, so with bamboo are required to produce port of the Provincial Govern­ paper, India should have been in one ton of paper. To produce ment, which has a reputation of a position during the Second therefore India's full require­ taking a direct and active interest World War to meet her own re­ ments of paper from this source in the industrialisation of the quirements fully and to meet the alone is very easy. Province, In spite of very active requirements of the Middle East The Panel on Paper which the propaganda and profuse, if almost and South East Asia. Where the Government of India appointed unwisely extravagant, expendi­ fortunes of an industry are so in 1945 has recommended that ture on publicity, the manage­ much in the hands of Tariff experiments should be conducted ment has been unable to raise Boards, the responsibility for to grow other grasses and wood much capital from the public. making the country at least self suitable for making pulp on a The Provincial government has sufficient is in the Board's hands. commercial scale. latterly appointed a Senior Gov­ And we cannot but lay the blame As for wood pulp, abundant ernment Officer as Manager of for the unsatisfactory state of the .supplies of spruce, fir and pine the Company, thereby reassur­ industry at the door of the Tariff are available all along the North ing the investors about the safety Board. Himalayan region. Tehri Garh- of their capital. The potential The present paper requirements wal, Kashmir, Darjeeling and capacity of the mill is 20,000 tons of the country can be estimated Nepal are centres where pulp a year. Production is expected at about 200,000 tons. As the mills may be set up. In the near to start in another year. present production capacity is future, when newsprint mills Three newsprint mills of like only about 100,000 tons, there is and rayon factories are likely to capacity, one in or near Tehri ample scope for expansion. With engage the attention of Indian Garhwal, one near Dareeling, regard to board and straw-board, industrialists, manufacture of and a third near the forest areas we are fairly self-sufficient. As pulp on a very large scale will of the Western Ghats within a for newsprint, India does not pro­ have to be undertaken. reasonable distance of Bombay duce any, but our requirements Cotton waste, waste paper, should be immediately set up run to about 50,000 tons a year. rags, and reeds and a host and they would meet the require­ Sabai grass and bamboo are of other well-known sources of ments of India for the next few the two main raw materials used paper are also available in large years. in India. Sabai grass grows in quantities. In view of the abun­ To stimulate enterprise in this

14 17th September 1949 ECONOMIC WEEKLY

direction the Government should spread of literacy in this country, and value of such imports during give all possible help. the cheap modern newspaper the four pre-war years: Since more than half the with its mammoth circulation will Paper Imports World's population is still illiterate soon make its appearance. Also, and literacy is the largest single as in Russia, text-books and popu­ factor governing the demand for lar literature will be published in paper, the scope for the expan­ editions which run into millions sion of the paper industry should of copies. be unlimited. With the attain­ In view of the above, the fol­ ment of Independence, India is lowing measures need immediate making a big drive towards full implementation in order to assist Thus India spent a crore and a literacy. The adoption of Hindi the development of the industry: half rupees in importing old as the national language, the in­ 1. The import of baled news­ newspapers. If that sum had crease in the number of Univer­ paper as cheap wrapping paper been spent, in those days when sities, the facilities for universal should be entirely stopped. The machinery and personnel were primary education—all these will following table gives the quantity cheap, to set up newsprint or accelerate the demand for paper. But paper is something more than a medium of communication. The last war brought out its im­ portance as munition of war. Its value as a strategic material is on a par with steel, cement, and chemicals. In the last war "paper cups and tumb­ lers, lighter in weight, hygieni- cally better and economically cheaper, replaced the traditional glass and metal utensils. Paper bags- replaced jute and hessian bags for the packing of a number of commodities and paper con­ tainers for packing food, medicine and cosmetics were used to save steel. Paper was also employed in numerous other ways, for example, impregnated with re­ sins or waxes for high insulation and laminates." (Bhatnagar). The per capita consumption of paper in India is only 1 lb. per year, while in the United King­ dom it is 154 lbs., in Canada 174 lbs. and in the United States of America 350 lbs. The next twentyfive years in this country will see an unprecendented rate of consumption of paper. A com­ parison with the England of the eighteen nineties is irresistible. The Education Act of 1870 in England bore its harvest in the vise and popularity of the modern English Newspaper. With the

15 ECONOMIC WEEKLY 17th September 1949 paper mills, the country would 4. As Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar, have reaped a rich harvest. F.R.S., Director of Scientific and 2. The Government should Industrial Research has often directly or indirectly help in the pointed out, the paper industry setting up of at least three news­ should immediately set up a paper print mills excluding the present Research Association. Dr. Bhat­ one under construction. nagar has already helped to bring The doubling of production of into existence other such associ­ the paper mills should be the im­ ations. The and Paper mediate target; and all possible section of the Forest Research aids, as tariff protection, transport Institute in Dehra Dun has done facilities, raw materials and good work in investigating the chemicals procurements etc., possibilities of utilisation of vari­ should be made available to the ous indigenous fibres and fibrous industry to attract capital. material for the production of paper, boards and kraft But as 3. Pulp mills should be esta­ the industry develops, various blished in regions where pine, fir other problems will have to be and spruce, bamboo and , tackled, which would be beyond cotton waste and linseed straw the limited capacity of the Forest and other raw materials are Research Institute. The disposal available in plenty. This will of waste effluents is such a pro­ reduce the heavy haulage charges blem. The use of sulphite liquor and high prices of raw materials, as a source of and yeast is which the majority of the mills a research problem worth investi­ has now to pay. com­ gating which may lead to great panies should be set up with Gov­ commercial advantage. ernment aid, if private capital is not forthcoming.