Although paper has many uses, its most important contribution to modern civilization is its use as a medium to record knowledge. Paper represents the perfect adjustment of a basic material to any use and purpose. Its use is increasing, as it is constantly being substituted for another material and it does the job more efficiently and economically. Paper is believed to have been first made in China from rags, bark fibers and bamboo as early as 105 AD. The Chinese soaked pieces of bamboo for more than a hundred days and boiled in milk of lime for eight days and nights to release fibre.

The industry is primarily dependent upon forest-based raw materials. Large scale mechanized technology of papermaking was introduced as early as 1905. The Indian pulp and paper industry at present is very well developed and established. In 1951, there were 17 paper mills, which increased to 75 during 1975, and at present there are 380 units.

Zone-wise Capacity of Paper & Paper Board Units

The first paper mill in India was set up at Sreerampur, West Bengal, in the year 1812. It was based on grasses and jute as raw material. Since then the raw material for the paper industry underwent a number of changes and over a period of time, besides wood and bamboo, other non-conventional raw materials have been developed for use in the papermaking. Now, the paper industry is categorized as forest-based, agro-based and others (waste paper secondary fibre, bast fibers and market pulp). Their contribution in the manufacturing sector is 42.9, 28.1 and 29.0 per cent respectively.

The pulp & paper industries in India have been categoriesed into large-scale and small-scale. The large-scale paper industries, having capacity above 24,000 tonnes per annum, have installed capacity of 2.0 million tones. The rest falls under the small-scale category with an approximate installed capacity of 1.95 million tones.