ITC plans Rs 4000 cr investment to expand paper production

The agribusiness-to-cigarette conglomerate ITC Ltd is reportedly planning to invest about Rs 4000 crore in expanding paper production capacity of Bhadrachalam Paper Board in Telangana. Capex is a part of Rs 8000-crore investment plan announced by Y C Deveshwar, chairman of ITC, on June 12, 2015 during the launch of the Telangana government's new industrial policy, which promises super fast single window approvals and zero tolerance to corruption. Half of the said investment is expected to go into building new hotels and a new food processing plant in Medak district of Telangana.
 
The state government has already allotted the additional land required for the expansion of Bhadrachlam Paper Board's plant. Speaking about the competition in the domestic market, Deveshwar said, “We are doubling the paper mill capacity to one million tonnes. But in China one single machine produces one million tonnes of paper. That is the scale we are competing with.”
 
In addition, ITC would spend about Rs 800 crore to set up a world-class food processing plant in Telangana chief minister's home district of Medak.
 
Commenting on Telangana government's new industrial policy, Deveshwar said, Telangana's new industrial policy was extremely significant in speeding up the industrial development in the state.