Domestic newsprint production struggling to meet demand, says INS

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) on Tuesday raised concerns over the weak state of domestic newsprint production, saying it had failed to cross 0.5 million tonnes, remaining far below the actual demand in the country.

 

Newsprint demand versus production

 

INS President Vivek Gupta said India’s annual newsprint requirement was around 1.2 million tonnes. But domestic production has struggled to go beyond 0.5 million tonnes. Gupta said this large gap highlighted the challenges faced by the local newspaper industry.

 

What it means

 

Indian newsprint mills are able to meet only about 40 per cent of total demand. INS said this pointed to a major “hollowing out” of the domestic industry, with limited capacity to support the needs of newspaper publishers across the country.

 

For how long has the situation been like this?

 

According to INS, this supply gap has continued for more than 20 years. During this period, there has been no meaningful expansion in dedicated newsprint manufacturing capacity within the country.

 

Increased dependence on imports

 

Due to this longstanding limitation, several newspaper publishers have had to depend on imported newsprint. INS said imports were needed to maintain uninterrupted printing and distribution of newspapers, which play an important role in keeping the public informed. 

INS rejects surplus capacity claims

 

Questioning the claims that domestic producers had enough capacity to meet publishers’ needs, INS said data from the domestic newsprint industry's association showed total exports of only about 18,000 tonnes in the past 15 years.

 

INS said these low export figures showed there was no surplus production capacity in India. This, it added, contradicted earlier industry claims and reinforced concerns about the continued weakness of domestic newsprint manufacturing.