Gujarat chief minister Vijaybhai Rupani laid the foundation stone of Emami Paper Mills greenfield multilayer packaging board project at Bharuch on 21 September 2018.

Aditya Agarwal, director, Emami Group said, “Emami Paper is the largest producer of newsprint and one of the leading producers of multilayer packaging board in India with a total production capacity of 3.35-lakh tonnes per annum (TPA). With the setting up of the first phase of this greenfield project at Bharuch, Gujarat, the total production capacity of the company will increase by another 2.25-lakh TPA and generate an additional business turnover of around Rs 1,000-crore.

"Keeping in view the high-quality infrastructure and ease of doing business in Gujarat, we target to complete the first phase of the project by early 2020 and commence our commercial production in the first half of the same year. This project will play a key role in establishing Emami Paper Mills as one of the largest packaging board manufacturers in India. We are highly thankful to Government of Gujarat for speedy allotment of land and environment clearance of the project.” 

The 103 acres area project comprising of an 18 megawatt (MW) captive power plant will consist of two phases of installation. The first phase will see an Rs 1,000-crore investment and the second phase of the project will double the company's capacity with an equal additional investment towards the installation of a new machine. 

PS Patwari, chief executive officer, Emami Paper Mills said, “In 2015, we diversified into packaging board by setting up a state of the art plant at Balasore, Odisha. Currently, our total production capacity is 3.35-lakhs TPA which comprise 1.55-lakh TPA of newsprint and writing-printing paper and 1.80-lakh TPA of paperboard. With the growth of the consumer market in India, there has been a spurt in demand for high-quality multilayer coated paperboard in the country."

He added, "With the completion of the first phase of the Bharuch plant, we expect to cater to this increasing demand as our total production capacity will go up to 5.60-lakh TPA. The company will be spending around Rs 10-crore in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities over the next five years in nearby villages for various projects of health improvement, infrastructure development, drinking water, cleanliness, plantation and self-help groups.”  

The first phase of the manufacturing plant at Bharuch is expected to create direct employment opportunities for more than 750 people while generating indirect employment for about 2,000 people in the ancillary industries and service organisations.

Emami Paper Mills clocked a turnover of Rs 1,366-crore and an EBIDTA of Rs 104-crore in the year 2017-18.