ITC Ltd today announced it had completed the process of acquiring the paperboard manufacturing facility BILT Industrial Packaging Co. Ltd. (BIPCO) near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

“The unit is strategically located close to the textile producing belt of Tirupur, the matches and fireworks belt of Sivakasi and the agarbatti manufacturing sector near Bangalore”, said Pradeep Dhobale, chief executive of the paperboards and the specialty papers division of ITC.

The facility, renamed ‘unit Kovai’, will operate as part of the paperboards and specialty papers division of ITC, which has a unit at Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh.

Industry consumers like hosiery manufacturers or producers of matches, fireworks and agarbatti require printed and finished paperboards but the nature of the products allows use of recycled and waste papers without environmental or health hazards.

ITC will operate four paperboard machines making it one of the largest manufacturers in its class. The unit is the only that produces the elemental chlorine fee (ECF) pulp and paper in the country.

The Kovai unit will allow ITC to improve its customer service with reduced lead times and a wider product range, a company release said quoting Dhobale. “The unit will mostly use recycled and waste paper to produce fresh paperboards, making it one of the most environment friendly plants”, they quoted.

The acquisition also enables ITC to take a major step forward towards achieving its vision of being a leading manufacturer of quality paperboards in the Afro-Asian region, said the release.

The total manufacturing capacity of the paperboards and specialty papers division will rise to 360,000 tonne per annum by the end of 2004, with the commissioning of another paperboard machine at the Bhadrachalam unit. ITC will then manufacture a wider variety of paperboards, for both the packaging and graphic segments.