Diversified conglomerate ITC on Tuesday said, it will invest Rs 1,540 crore in its Paperboards and Speciality Papers Division by October 2008.

"We will invest Rs 1,100 crore by April 2008 in Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 440 crore by October 2008 in the plant near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu," ITC Paperboards and Speciality Divisional Chief Executive Pradeep Dhobale told PTI here.

ITC has already got clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the expansion of the Bhadrachalam plant and is awaiting clearance for investment in Coimbatore plant, he said.

"We are creating two centres of board manufacturing in the Bhadrachalam and Coimbatore units," he said.

The total paper production capacity of the Bhadrachalam plant would go up to 4 lakh tonnes annually by April 2008 from the current 3 lakh tonnes and the total Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) pulp production would increase to 2.2 lakh tonnes annually by the last quarter of 2007, from the current 1 lakh tonnes.

ECF pulp, based wholly on plantation wood and introduced in 2002 by ITC, is a state-of-the-art fibre line, which meets effluent norms, set by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of India and Pollution Control Boards.

ITC's plant in Coimbatore, which is based on recycled fibre, would increase its total annual capacity of paper production to 1.80 lakh tonnes by October 2008, from its current 1 lakh tonnes, he said.

"The clearance for the Coimbatore plant will take a couple of months, but we have set the target of increased production by October 2008, keeping the time in getting clearance in mind," he said.

All the expansion that we are planning is keeping sustainable development in mind, Dhobale said.

The company has two more paper manufacturing units in Tribeni near Kolkata and at Bollarum near Hyderabad. The Tribeni plant manufactures speciality paper and has an annual production capacity of 25,000 tonnes.

Bollaram unit is a value addition plant, which gets paper from ITC's other units and adds value like coating and polylaminating. It has an annual production capacity of 30,000 tonnes.

"The development of the Tribeni and Bollaram units is also on the anvil," he said.

The machinery and production equipment for the Bhadrachalam and Coimbatore units have already been ordered from various countries, with the majority coming from Finland, he said.