Paper Tiger

Ballarpur Industries, owned by the Gautam Thapar-run Avantha Group, is one of the largest paper and pulp manufacturers in the country, with an installed capacity of over 1 million tonnes. The company ranks 211 on our list. Production is spread over five factories in Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. There’s also a factory in Malaysia. Between them, these factories produce 2.6% of the world’s paper. Per capita consumption of paper in India stands at 10 kg, and the industry has been growing at about 8% year on year. For 2013-14, domestic production is estimated to be 11.38 million tonnes. The industry mostly uses wood, bamboo, recycled fibre, wheat straw, and rice husk as raw materials. Ballarpur is one of the few large organised players in an industry otherwise dominated by small and medium players, with installed capacity of some 50,000 tonnes a year.