Sirpur Paper Mills Limited (SPM) is an integrated pulp and paper mill situated at

Kagaznagar Kagaznagar may refer to: *Kagaznagar, Assam Kagaznagar or Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited Township, Jagiroad was an industrial township for Nagaon Paper Mill in Jagiroad, Morigaon district, Assam. Politics Jagiroad is a part of the Jagir ...

Komaram Bheem district Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The town of Asifabad is its district headquarters and kagaznagar as its largest town. It is named after Gond tribal leader Kumuram Bheem. It was earlier part of ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. JK Paper Ltd acquired Sirpur Paper Mills in August 2018.

Establishment

Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd was established in the erstwhile

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

in 1938 by the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

Mir Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967) was the last Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad State, the largest state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25 and rule ...

, with actual production beginning in 1942. This makes it one of the oldest paper mills in the country. In the 1950s, the

Birla family The Birla family is an Indian business family connected with the industrial and social history of India. Foundations The Birla family's origins trace to the Maheshwari community of Bania Vaishya traders. The family was outcasted in 1922 when ...

group of industries took over the mill, and it was later transferred to the Poddars. It was owned by R. K. Poddar at the time of its closure.

Closure

At the time of the closure, the mill employed about 3000 workers. The management team cited increasing raw material costs and unavailability of reliable power as the major reasons that impacted the profitability of the plant. Production at the mill had been shut down from September 2014 to August 2018.

Acquisition by JK Paper

Efforts were started by the

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (born 17 February 1954), frequently known by his initials KCR, is an Indian politician currently representing the Gajwel Assembly constituency and serving as the leader of the opposition in the Telangana Legislati ...

government in

to attract new investors to restart production at the mill and boost the local economy, which was heavily dependent on it. The Harsh Pati Singhania-promoted JK Paper Ltd has taken over the ailing sick paper mil knittingl, The Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd, located at Kagaznagar in Telangana district. The takeover comes after the National Company Law Tribunal, Hyderabad had on July 19 approved the Rs 782-crore resolution plan. According to the JK Paper management, “The acquisition provides a growth opportunity to JK Paper to expand its existing line of business of paper and paper board.” The company has secured approval from the NCLT Hyderabad Bench and acquired 76.37 per cent stake comprising 13,90,00,000 shares of face value of Rs 10 each. JK Paper does not require approval from the Competition Commission of India as the target business is within the prescribed exemption threshold as per the regulations. As per the arrangement, Rs 371 crore has been settled by the company and its JK Enviro-tech Ltd, towards corporate insolvency resolution process cost, admitted operational creditors, workmen and employees dues among others, as per the terms of the Resolution Plan. This consists of cash payment of Rs 165 crore and issue of securities consisting of equity shares of Rs 43 crore and preference shares of Rs 162 crore by Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd. The company has issued equity shares of SPML through primary subscription at the face value of Rs 10 each. After the lenders lifted the seizure of the paper mills, Harsh Pati Singhania, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JK Paper, and others opened the paper mill, which will play a major role in the revival of the economy in the newly carved out Komaram Bheem district, where the mill is located. Significantly, KT Rama Rao, Telangana IT and Industries Minister, and local MLA Koneru Konappa, played a role in facilitating the takeover of the mill by ensuring that the State extends certain concessions, which will make the mill viable. JK Paper shares were trading at Rs 148.80, up 5.48 per cent on the BSE.

References

{{reflist Komaram Bheem district Pulp and paper companies of India Hyderabad State