
The Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL)
is a company that was established by the
Government of Tamil Nadu
The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary.
Under the Const ...
to produce newsprint and writing paper using
bagasse
Bagasse ( ) is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building ...
, a
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
residue. The Government of Tamil Nadu listed the paper mill in April 1979 under the provisions of the Companies Act of 1956. The factory is situated at
Kagithapuram in the
Karur District
Karur District is one of the 38 districts (a district located centrally along the Kaveri and Amaravathi rivers) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur, which is also the district headquarters. Th ...
of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
and Manapparai, Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. The registered office of the company is located in
Guindy
Guindy is a neighborhood of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Kathipara junction where Anna Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Road, and GST Road meet here. It is one of the important nodal points of ...
,
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
.
History
The company commenced production in 1984 with an initial capacity of 90,000 tonnes per annum. TNPL started the commercial production of newsprint on its new Paper Machine No. 2 in January 1996. The machine was supplied by Voith Sulzer Paper Technology
and its licensee in India,
Larsen and Toubro Limited, and has opened up vistas for newsprint making.
Technology and process
TNPL has ventured with nearby sugar mills such as Sakthi Sugar Mills for continued supply of Bagasse for the Paper mill where steam will be provided to the sugar mill in exchange of bagasse.
Quality standards
TNPL has obtained the ISO 9001:2000 certification from RWTÜV
of Germany for the development and supply of newsprint and papers. TNPL is accredited with ISO 14001:2004 certification.
TNPL Effluent Water Lift Irrigation Society (TEWLIS)
Under the TNPL Effluent Water Lift Irrigation Scheme is intended to provide farmers effluent water for irrigation purpose. The treated effluent water is used to irrigate about of dry land with about 250 farmers of the TNPL Effluent Water Lift Irrigation Society. The effluents have to comply with the norms set by the
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is the governing body to monitor and control air, noise, and water pollution in the state of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The ...
.
TNPL Plantation Programme
TNPL has developed plantations in 2004–2005 and launched two plantation schemes, namely Farm Forestry and Captive Plantation.
Captive plantations are raised on lands owned by companies, government departments, and educational institutions on a revenue-sharing basis or on a lease-rent basis. The minimum criteria for captive plantations is that the land should be a block of and above in a single location.
In the last five years of operation (2004–05 to 2008–09), TNPL has raised plantations in involving 8235 farmers in twenty-eight districts in Tamil Nadu under the Farm Forestry scheme and under the Captive Plantation Scheme. TNPL has planted pulpwood on about 40,291 acres of land (as of 31 March 2009).
Clonal propagation and research center
TNPL established a clonal propagation and research center.
The clonal production centre was started with a mini clonal hedge garden of , a mist chamber of , and of open nursery. The production center was established at an outlay of about 50 million. The plantation schemes are being implemented throughout Tamil Nadu through 10 regional offices in Karur, Manaparai, Tirunelveli, Karaikudi, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Trichy, Tanjore, Jayangondam, and Panruti.
Forestry research and development
TNPL has partnered with the
NAIP-ICAR-sponsored project titled "A value chain on industrial Agro-forestry in Tamil Nadu" for the promotion of tree husbandry with improved short-rotation clones and
genotypes
The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...
through
contract farming
Contract farming involves agricultural production being carried out on the basis of an agreement between the buyer and farm producers. Sometimes it involves the buyer specifying the quality required and the price, with the farmer agreeing to deliv ...
.
[
] Forest College & Research Institute (FC & RI), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mettupalayam is the Consortium Leader of this project. This project is being implemented to raise of cluster plantation in 10
taluks
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ce ...
covering 5 districts in Tamil Nadu.
TNPL has obtained the
ISO 14001
The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...
certification from RMTUV, Germany. TNPL has commissioned the
bio-methanation plant, which generates around 23,000 m
3 of
biogas
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...
(methane) per day, to be used as fuel in the lime-kiln in place of
furnace oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine fue ...
. The biogas replaces around 10–12 kiloliters of furnace oil per day in the lime-kiln. In 2003–2004, the bio-methanation plant generated 4,145,000 m
3 of
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
gas. TNPL also obtained the ''3 Leaves Award''
under the Green Rating project of the
Centre for Science and Environment
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1980, CSE works as a think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a rese ...
, New Delhi, in October 2004.
Energy management policy
TNPL has installed its own power generating facility through the installation of 61.18 MW power generating equipment (TG Sets) installed at the paper mill site and the 18 MW
wind farm
A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...
installed at
Devarkulam and Perungudi of
Tirunelveli district. The surplus power generated is being exported to the State Grid. The wind farm capacity was changed to 21.75 MW in March 2004 by installing 3 wind turbine generators of 1250 kW capacity each. It has installed a bio-methanation plant to generate methane gas from the effluent water (bagasse wash water) and use it as fuel as a substitute for furnace oil in the lime kiln. In 2004–2005, TNPL generated 3,412,000 m
3 methane gas. The Indian Industry has recognised the project as an ''Innovative Project''.
Registered projects
Methane extraction project
TNPL commissioned a special kind of reactor concept for the "high rate" anaerobic treatment of an
upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, which uses anaerobic granular sludge bed technology. The project also involves a system for extracting biogas from the closed reactor as fuel in a
lime kiln
A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is: CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2
This reaction can tak ...
, which had been using furnace oil.
6.75 MW Small Scale Grid Connected Wind Electricity Generation Project

TNPL has generated energy. The project activity involves the installation, operation and maintenance of seven grid connected wind electricity generators (WEG) owned by the project proponent, TNPL. The electricity generated from the seven WEGs will be exported to the
Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (abbreviated as TNEB) is a power generation and distribution company owned by Government of Tamil Nadu, India. It was created as a regulated monopoly under section 131 of the Electricity Act (2003) as a successor of ...
(TNEB) grid. The seven WEGs have been installed in two phases.
The first phase involved installation of four
NEG Micon
NEG Micon was a Danish wind turbine manufacturer. It was formed in 1997 as a result of a merger between Nordtank Energy Group (NEG) and Moerup Industrial Windmill Construction Company (Micon).
The company was merged with another Danish wind turb ...
750 kW WEGs and the second phase involved the erection of three
Suzlon Energy
Suzlon Energy is an Indian multinational wind turbine manufacturer headquartered in Pune.
History
Tulsi Tanti was a Gujarati businessman managing a small textile company. Due to the erratic availability of local power and its rising cost, ...
WEGs of 1.25 MW. On 30 March 2001, TNPL commenced operations for the first phase of the project with the installation of the four 750 kW WEGs. The second phase of the project commenced operations in March 2004.
All seven WEGs have been installed in the
Thirunelveli
Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest municip ...
district, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.
Savings
Products
The paper produced by TNPL is subjected to
elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching. The paper is acid-free. TNPL manufactures papers in substances ranging from 50
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
to 90 GSM. Newsprint is normally manufactured in 49 Gsm (
grams per square meter) reels and directly sold by the company to various newspaper establishments such as ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'', ''
Malayala Manorama
'' Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew, it was first published as a weekly on 14 March 1888, and currently has a rea ...
'', ''Ananda Bazaar Patrika'', and others. The printing and writing paper is manufactured in reel and sheet forms, with the Gsm varying from 50 to 80.
Export network
TNPL is also exporting about 18% of the PWP production to 20 countries.
* Australia
* Egypt
* Greece
* Indonesia
* Jordan
* Kenya
* Malaysia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Nigeria
* Philippines
* Singapore
* Sri Lanka
* Sudan
* South Africa
* Taiwan
* Turkey
* U.A.E
* UK
* United States
* Yemen
The "
World Wide Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
" has entered into a pact with TNPL to use the "Panda" logo in its branded products.
Controversy
On 14 September 2009, the General Farmers' Association of Pugalur, the Pugalur Consumer Protection Council, and the Pugalur Channel Aycutdars' Association alleged that the TNPL's release of effluents into the channel has caused the public in the area to be "afraid of the ill effects of the effluents".
Response
The TNPL has claimed that no effluent was being let into the Pugalur Channel, as alleged. TNPL Managing Director Mohammed Nasimuddin stated that "The TNPL has implemented a Mill Development Plan at a capital outlay of 6 billion mainly for incorporating various environmental improvement measures such as switching over to Elemental Chlorine Free Bleaching and reduction in water consumption. In this system the use of chlorine is totally eliminated and the bleaching is carried out only by
chlorine dioxide
Chlorine dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula ClO2 that exists as yellowish-green gas above 11 °C, a reddish-brown liquid between 11 °C and −59 °C, and as bright orange crystals below −59 °C. It is usually ...
".
Shareholding
The
government of Tamil Nadu
The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary.
Under the Const ...
listed TNPL shares in the following organizations:
:*
Bombay Stock Exchange
BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the 6th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, exceeding $5 trillion in May 2024.
Established with t ...
:*
National Stock Exchange of India
National Stock Exchange of India Limited, also known as the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the List of stock exchanges, 5th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, ...
:*
National Securities Depository Limited
National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) is an Indian central securities depository, based in Mumbai. It was established in August 1996 as the first electronic securities depository in India with national coverage. It was established based ...
:*
Central Depository Services Limited
Central Depository Services (India) Ltd. (CDSL) is an Indian central securities depository, founded in 1999.
CDSL is the largest depository in India in terms of number of demat accounts opened. In February 2022, CDSL became the first depositor ...
:*
Debenture Trustees – Vijaya Bank
TNPL became a share market listed company from the year 1997. The government of Tamil Nadu declared TNPL as "Other Companies" list from the previous "Government of Tamil Nadu's Public Sector Undertakings" list after 1997. The government holds 35.32% of equity shares in TNPL as of 31 March 2012.
Management
*Thiru. M. Saikumar, I.A.S. – Chairman and Managing Director
* Thiru. Nagappan – Director
* Thiru. Soundarakumar, I.A.S – Director
* Thiru. Rita Harish Thakkar, I.A.S – Director
* Thiru. N. Narayanan – Director
* Thiru. V. Chandrasekaran – Director
* Thiru. Shanmugam – Director
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamil Nadu Newsprint And Papers
Companies based in Chennai
Pulp and paper companies of India
Government agencies established in 1979
Government-owned companies of India
1979 establishments in Tamil Nadu
Indian companies established in 1979
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange