BILT to expand mills capacity to 10 lakh tonnes by 2009

New Delhi, Oct 17 (UNI) Ballarpur Industries Ltd (BILT) today said it will expand the total capacity of its five mills to 10 lakh tonnes by 2009, from the current 5,60,000 tonnes, while reporting a 31.8 per cent hike in its net profit at Rs 58.26 crore for Q1FY07.

The company's current capacity is 4,60,000 tonnes of its paper business and 1 lakh tonnes on pulp.

The Government of Maharashtra and BILT have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in connection with the brownfield expansion of their paper plant at Bhigwan in Pune.

Under the MoU, BILT will invest Rs 1,200 crore in two phases to expand capacity of the plant in Bhigwan, by 3,00,000 TPA. The product profile will include world-class coated and uncoated papers.

The company will also complete the acqusition of Malaysia's Sabah Forest Industries plant with a capacity of 1,40,000 tonnes by December this year. The profits of the plant will be reflected in the third quarter results of the company.

''Economy activity is rising in the country, With the growing GDP, we expect a 8.5 per cent growth in the demand of the paper industry,'' BILt Group Finance Director B Hariharan told repoters here.

BILTs paper revenue increased by 17.0 per cent to Rs 494.88 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal as compared to Rs 422.95 crore in the corresponding period last year.

BILT is India's largest manufacturer and exporter of paper including writing&printing paper, industrial paper and specialty paper.

BILT has five manufacturing plants across four states of India including Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. It has a total workforce of more than 10,000 employees and employs directly or indirectly 5,000 people as casual and contractual laborers.

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