While we work quietly and set standards in Operational Excellence, Safety and Environment - a few awards and achievements that showcase our commitment towards continuous improvement are featured below:

ITC’S Bhadrachalam Paperboard mill adjudged the best in the contry

ITC Limited ‘S Bhadrachalam Paperboard mill was declared the ‘Paper Mill of the year  2005 – 06’ by the indian Paper Manufacturers’ Association (IPMA) Mr Ashwani Kumar,Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Industry, Government of India Presented the award at the seventh annual General Meeting of IPMA in New Delhi held on January 11,2007. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradeep Dhobale, the newly elected President of IPMA and Chief Executive of ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers business said, “The achievement demonstrates the success of ITC’s triple bottom line approached to doing business – augmenting economic  environmental and social capital. Pioneering initiative like biotechnology based plantations, eco-friendly Elemental Cholring free (ECF) pulping technology, cost effective fly ash bric manufacturing and product Innovation in packing and specialty papers have won us this award.”

ITC PSPD - Bollaram wins Indian Manufacturing Excellence gold Award.

ITC PSPD - Bollaram has won the Indian Manufacturing Excellence Gold Award in the process Category for the year 2006. The IMEA (Indain manufacturing Excellence Awards) given by frost & Sullivan, acknowledge the best facilities in India that have achieved and sustained Manufacturing Excellence. The manufacturing facilities are rated on 13 parameters that capture excellence on cost, quality and delivery.

Other Awards and Accolades

Five Star Rating from British Safety Council, UK for PSPD Units at Tribeni and Bollaram National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2006 front for PSPD Unit at Bhadrachalam Certificate of Appreciation award for Excellence in water Management 2006, awarded by CII, Hyderabad to PSPD Unit at Bhadrachalam

AWARDS WON BY ITC – PSDPD

Paper Mill of the Year 2005-06 Award to the Bhadrachalam Paperboards mill by the Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA)  Five Star rating from the British Safety Council to Tribeni Unit in 2006 for excellent performance in Health & Safety Management. .Indian Manufacturing Excellence Gold Award 2006 to the Bollarum Unit from Frost & Sullivan. This Award acknowledges the best facilities in India that have achieved and sustained Manufacturing Excellence. The CII conferred the National Award for Excellence in Energy Management, Best Innovative Project Award and National Award for Excellence  In Water Management 2006 to Bhadrachalam Unit. The awards were given for successful implementation of energy saving projects and for significant reduction in specific energy and water consumption.  The Greentech Environment Excellence Gold Award 2006 in the manufacturing sector, for the Bhadrachalam factory. Through these awards the Greentech Foundation recognizes industrial and service sector organizations for their outstanding achievements in environment protection. apexil’s Top Export Award 2005-06, for the 5th consecutive year in recognition of highest exports in value terms, in the Paper and Paperboards category. National Award for Energy Conservation 2006 to the Tribeni Unit in the Paper & Pulp Sector from the Department of Power, Ministry of Power &  Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Government of India. The Bhadrachalam unit won the same award in 2005.

"Greentech Environment Excellence Gold Award 2006 "- in Paper Sector.

This prestigious award will be presented by Hon'ble Shri S C Lamir, Governer of Goa & Hon'ble Shri Dr. Wilfred D'Souza, Dy. Chief Minister and Minister of Environment , Science and Technology, Govt. of Goa during 7th Annual Greentech Environment Excellence Award Program on 31st August, 2006, at Cidade De Goa, Goa.

National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2005

"ITC - PSPD - Bhadrachalam Unit has won National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2005 of CII as Excellent Energy Efficient Unit. This award we have got 5 times consecutively. (2001 TO 2005)" Out of 126 companies in various sectors who have applied for award competition 35 companies (we are one of them) have been shortlisted for final round of competition. Two day conference has been held in Chennai on 6 & 7 th and shortlisted companies have given presentation in the format given by CII in front of Jury , participating Industries and delegates. Based on the evaluation procedure, Jury has declared the results wherein 19 companies have been given "Excellent Energy Efficient Unit" and balance 16 have been awarded as "Energy Efficient Unit"

PSPD BHADRACHALAM UNIT WINS CII NATIONAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN WATER MANAGEMENT 2005

CII confers National Award for Excellence in Water Management 2005 to ITC Limited - PSPD,  Bhadrachalam Unit. A total of 50 entries from various categories of industries on all India basis were  received for this  competition, out of which 26 entries were short-listed for final competition based on  their achievement  in the field of Water Conservation. Twenty five industries presented their Water Conservations efforts before a panel of judges (comprising of   members of CII and Experts in Industry) of which 14 industries in different categories have been   awarded Excellence in Water Management held on 19-20 December 2005 at CII-Godrej GBC,  Hyderabad. ITC- PSPD, Unit Bhadrachalam is one of those 14 industries complimented with Excellence in water management. PSPD Unit Bollaram too figured in the list of 25 industries that have presented their efforts and was complimented for the efforts. The chart below shows water consumed per tonne of paper/paperboard produced over the years at Unit Bhadrachalam. It shows a significant declining trend from 180 KL in 1997 to a little over 65 KL in the year 2004-05.

A winning & youthful team

ITC – PSPD has won the prestigious Top Export Award from Capexil for the 4th consecutive year – 2004 – 05 under the category of Paper and Paperboards. Capexil is an export promotion council of the Government of India. Our export during 2004-05 is valued at approx USD 30 Million, double the previous year. Additions to capacity, of the PM5 at Bhadrachalam and the board machine at Kovai, have helped us to service our markets in an improved manner. Our products have gained acceptance in a newer markets including Europe, and, we have added new distribution partners. Additions to our International Sales team and improved logistics capability, have helped us to delivery superior value through better services.

ITC PSPD UNITS BHADRACHALAM AND TRIBENI WIN ACCOLADES FROM MINISTRY OF POWER

Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency present annual awards to major industries for their efforts to conserve the precious energy resources. For the year 2004-05 over 370 major industries participated in the competition for the "National Energy Conservation" awards out of which 15 industries competed in the Pulp and Paper sector. PSPD Unit Bhadrachalam received the First prize while Unit Tribeni won the Certificate of Merit at the third position. The awards were given away by Hon'ble President of India, Dr Abdul Kalam on 14th Dec at Delhi. This is the Seventh National Energy Conservation award for Unit Bhadrachalam out of which four were for "First" position.

ITC PSPD wins the National Energy Conservation Award ITC PSPD wins the National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2004

ITC Limited - Paperboards & Speciality Papers Division Unit :

Bhadrachalam Takes the lead in Environmental Performance among the Indian Pulp & Paper Industry. On the eve of the 'Silver Jubilee celebration' the appreciation made by CSE is most befitting for the untiring efforts made by all of us to protect the Environment and improving Societal values. This Green Rating is the out come of Research Conducted for the Environmental Performance during the assessment period, 1998-2002 by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi

ITC PSPD wins the first National Skill Competition for the Supervisiors

ITC-PSPD, Unit Bhadrachalam, has put ITC in the national map once again, by winning the First National Skill Competition for the Supervisors held between 27th-29th August, 2005 at FTI, Bangalore conducted by CII. Skill competitions have been conducted by CII for the past 16 yrs for the workmen category. However this time round CII felt the need to include the working supervisors who are the real bridge between workers and the top level management.

There were two levels:-

The Regional level consisting of only a practical test round (where ITC stood Second). The National level where the teams selected from the Regional level participated. It consisted of 4 rounds – Theory, Practical, Group Discussions and Supervisory aptitude observed during practical test.

The ITC team (participating in the ‘Electrical Category’) comprised of : -

1. Mr. S.Kiran Kumar - Electrical (Maintenance). 2. Mr S.K.Madar - Electrical (Maintenance). 3. Mr B.Prakasha Rao - Electrical (Maintenance). 4. Mr V.Pitchi Reddy - Electrical (Maintenance).

This team had won the Second prize in First Regional Skill Competitions for Working Supervisors held between June 4-5, 2005 at CTI, Guindy, Chennai which was also conducted by CII.

The other competitors were TVS Wheels India Ltd from Chennai and ITC Ltd from Munger selected from the Regional Levels.

Applauds to Team ITC-PSPD for the Capexil's Top Export Award for the year 2003-04. This is the third consecutive year. Our products are now exported to destination from Australia in the East to UK in the West against internal competition from the best in the world. Our focus in the year 2004-05 will be more on East & West European markets, CIS, Gulf region and Africa.

Pulp and paper industry

Paper improves green score

Pulp and paper industry rated for the second time by CSE. The rating pushes companies to improve their environmental performance

• The second rating of the pulp and paper sector shows visible improvements in environmental performance of large companies.
• CSE’s data shows that industry can work to provide jobs and a growth model -- it can provide employment to 0.55 million farming families just from tree plantation, and can make India a pulp-surplus country.
• The credibility of the rating works as a reputational incentive to drive change in the sector.

New Delhi, September 30, 2004: Former President of India, K R Narayanan released the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) green rating of the pulp and paper sector today. ITC-Bhadrachalam unit was awarded the first rank, displacing last time winner JK Paper Mill to second place. The big loser is Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills, which has slipped from 2nd place to 11th in this public rating of the environmental performance of companies.

The project to rate industries was started by CSE in 1999 as an independent tool to leverage change in the environmental balance sheet of companies. As the pulp and paper industry is extremely environmental intensive, using large amounts wood and bamboo as raw material and releasing huge amounts of wastewater into rivers, CSE had rated this sector first in 1999.

The re-rating was done to check if companies were responding to public pressure to reform their environmental performance. "The good news is that even this environmental nightmare sector is showing big changes," says Chandra Bhushan, coordinator of CSE’s Green Rating Project. "The fact that we can benchmark the improvements shows that even if government regulations do not work, public pressure and the reputational incentive to reform does work," adds Sunita Narain, director, CSE.


The rating shows that the companies have responded strongly to recommendations which arose from the first rating.

For instance

• Only one company had an environmental policy in 1999, and now 16 companies have policies; 25 of the 28 companies rated today have an environment department.
• The average water consumption of a mill during the first rating was 200 tonnes per tonne of paper produced. This has come down to 135 tonnes today.
• While only one company, the winner ITC Bhadrachalam, has totally eliminated the use of toxic chlorine in its process, the others have cut down on their consumption from 65 tonnes of elemental chlorine used for each tonne of bleached pulp to 40 tonnes by 2002.
• In the 1999 rating, CSE had strongly urged companies to move towards sourcing their wood and bamboo from farmers, instead of depending on government forestlands for raw material supplies. It will be recalled that the voracious appetite for wood of this industry has been the single largest cause of deforestation in the country. The 2004 rating reveals that the area brought under farmland for tree cultivation has doubled – from 20,000 hectares to over 40,000 hectares by 2002. Leaders in this area – Harihar Polyfibres, JK Paper Mills and ITC Bhadrachalam – are getting as much as 80-90 per cent of their wood from farmers, who they are encouraging with their technical help and assured markets.

These improvements are reflected in the fact that the 2004 rating awards six companies Three Leaves, as compared to 1999 when only three mills could make the grade.

However, there is plenty of scope for improvement. The top companies have only qualified for the Three Leaves Award, while the highest in the sector is Five Leaves. The overall analysis shows that while the sector improved in some areas, it lost out in certain areas like process efficiency and management. Also, the improvements made in raw material sourcing and water use need to go further.

The companies still misuse water as compared to the global best practice in the industry. It is possible for mills to close their water cycle and recycle and reuse water so that they can virtually become zero discharge mills.In the area of raw material sourcing, the sector has the opportunity to become a sunshine sector and catalyse change for the better in the rural economy by generating millions of jobs for poor farmers who can grow trees on marginal lands for the mills.


It can reduce its pollution generation considerably by installing methods to generate energy from its biomass wastes and become an energy surplus sector, rather than depending on fossil fuels like coal.

In the field of wastepaper utilisation, the sector only utilises around 20 per cent of the wastepaper generated in the country and depends largely on imports. By networking with ragpickers and kabariwallahs, the industry has the opportunity to generate wealth for the poor in the country.

The sector has to think in terms of technology leapfrog so that it can eliminate its use of toxic chemicals like chlorine. Today, even with the poor and highly polluting technology it uses, it is earning huge profit margins compared to Western mills. The sector is experiencing a boom and the growth rate is twice the international rate. Growing prosperity and literacy will only increase the size of the paper market in India, providing the sector tremendous scope for improvement on all fronts.

The pulp and paper industry is an environmentalist’s nightmare. It can eat away a nation’s forest. It uses huge amounts of equally precious water to ‘cook and clean’ its raw material. It uses high amounts of bleach in manufacturing, which then emerges as toxins in its wastewater and sludge discharge. It produces bad smells and its effluent is coloured suspiciously. For precisely these reasons, any change for the better is good news. This green rating shows that change is possible.

THE WINNERS AND THE LOSERS

NUMBER ONE

ITC Ltd’s Bhadrachalam unit has been judged the greenest of them all. The company has been applauded for leapfrogging into a new technology and becoming the first plant in the sector to eliminate the use of chlorine. Chlorine is used to bleach pulp and impart brightness to paper. This extremely polluting process generates toxic organochlorines that end up polluting the water that they are discharged into. By eliminating chlorine use, ITC can now make food-grade paper -- paper that can be used to package food.

RUNNERS UP

JK Paper Mills of Raygada, Orissa, which was number one in the last ratings, has slipped to the second slot. The company has maintained a foothold because of its efficient resource management process. The third spot in the ratings has gone to BILT Graphics of Bhigwan, Maharashtra, which uses its state-of-the-art technology to good effect – it generates little pollution and treats its wastewater effectively, which is then used by local farmers for irrigation.

THE LOSERS

The rating is also able to show which companies have fallen behind. The Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd has dropped to the 11th position from its second ranking in the last green rating, largely owing to its technological backwardness. The mill also consumes huge amounts of water – 200 tonnes for every tonne of paper it produces, which is more than five times the global best practice. Thirteenth-ranked BILT-Ballarpur unit (placed third in the first ratings) is another major loser: its generation of lime sludge has given it the unenviable epithet of ‘sludge garden’. The mill also loses out in its water consumption and farm forestry initiatives. The third major loser is Hindustan Paper Corporation, Nagaon, which has slipped to the 20th spot from its 10th ranking. The mill is changing for the better, but its snail’s pace has put it in the ranks of the losers.


Paper improves green score

Our Corporate Bureau / New Delhi October 01, 2004

CSE says 'environmental nightmare sector' has improved performance.

The Indian paper and pulp industry had improved its environmental performance in the last five years, said the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) in a report released today.

The Delhi-based environment watchdog’s Green Rating Project has given the industry a score of 29.1 per cent in 2004, against 27.4 per cent in 1999, when it had first rated the pulp and paper industry.

The findings were released by former President KR Narayanan here today. “The good news is that even this environmental nightmare sector is showing big changes,” said Chandra Bhushan, coordinator of the Green Rating Project.

Out of the 30 units evaluated by the CSE, as many as six have got a rating of three leaves, the highest being five leaves. The list is topped by ITC Ltd’s Bhadrachalam unit, followed by the Hari Shankar Singhania group’s JK Paper Mills and Lalit Mohan Thapar’s Bilt Graphics.

JK Paper Mills had topped the 1999 rankings. Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills has slipped from the second slot in 1999 to eleventh in the current round.

Since its first rating, the CSE report said, the paper and pulp industry had cut down on its usage of water, though the average was still high. A key area of concern was the industry’s high consumption of elemental chlorine to bleach paper.

Though the scenario hadn’t changed significantly over the years, the industry had become more conscious of its chlorine consumption, CSE observed in its report.

The industry had become more conscious of the environment in the last five years. While only 30 per cent of the companies in the first rating had a formal environment policy, the figure rose to 89 per cent in the 2004 rating.

Between the two ratings, the number of companies with an environment department increased from 18 per cent of the total to 89 per cent and the number of companies with ISO 4001 certification was up from 3 per cent to 46 per cent. Thus, six companies got the three leaves rating in 2004 as against just three in 1999.


The biggest gains made by the industry were in the sourcing of raw material. The industry, according to the CSE, was sourcing more and more of its raw material, wood and bamboo, from farm and social forestry, besides investing in R&D to improve the productivity of plantations.

“As a result, land under the farm and social forestry programmes had doubled from 20,000 hectares in 1998 to 40,000 hectares by 2004,” the report said.

Apart from social forestry, the CSE also made a case for improving the usage of waste paper as a raw material by the industry. The sector utilised only around 20 per cent of the waste paper generated in the country and depended largely on imports.

“By networking with ragpickers and kabariwallahs, the industry has the opportunity to generate wealth for the poor in the country,” the report said.

On their part, senior paper industry functionaries told Business Standard that government legislation was required to segregate and collect waste paper. “Nowhere in the world is waste paper segregated and collected by the paper mills,” a paper industry source said.

The paper industry has also been making a case for corporate farming in order to get better control over raw material.

“We need to have control over 40-50 per cent of our raw material before we invest in new capacity,” the source said, adding: “Nobody sets up a steel mill without coal mines or a cement plant without limestone quarries.”

While welcoming the green ratings, paper industry leaders said that the CSE should also study paper mills using agricultural raw material and waste paper.

“There are 20-30 such mills and their environmental problems are not being tackled,” said the chief executive of a large paper company.

2003

Golden Peacock Award – 2003 The World Environment Foundation presents this award for the highest achievements in Environmental Management.

2001-2002

National Energy Conservation Award For 2002
This is an award given in recognition of “Excellence in Energy Efficiency” - by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Annual competition is held in Chennai, and from a pool of about 150 companies across industries, the top 10 companies are chosen for the honour.

Capexil’s Top Export Award For 2001 – 2002
This award is in recognition of the highest Exports – in value terms – in the Paper and Paperboards category, and is awarded by the leading forum – Chemicals & Allied Products Exports Promotion Council, India. For 3 consecutive years previously, we have been awarded SPECIAL EXPORT AWARD by Capexil.

1999-2000

The Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar
(Indira Gandhi Award for the Environment) – award conferred on Mr. Piare Lal, then Head – Plantations Department, under the individual category for the year 1999 by the Ministry Of Environment & Forests, Government of India

1996-1997

Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award – 1997, by Ministry of Environment and forests, Government of India.

Rajiv Gandhi Parti Bhoomi Mitra Award – 1996, by Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment, Government of India.

1993-1995

National Safety Award presented by the British Safety Council – in 1993

Award for the “Best Effort in Environmental Improvement in Paper Industry in the State” – in 1993-94

The Rajiv Gandhi Parti Bhoomi Mitra Award
Award given by the Department of Wastelands Development, Government of India - for developing non-forest wastelands in the country - in 1994-95

Rajiv Gandhi Parti Bhoomi Mitra Award – 1994-95, by Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment, Government of India.

The Vantech Industry Rolling Trophy for Research and Development – 1995, Award by Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region.

1991-1992

FAPCCI Award for ‘The Best Technological Development in Research and Development for 1991-92’ by Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

1980-1990

Productivity Awards
These are awards in recognition of distinct efforts towards improvement in Production and Productivity, leading to the Best Productivity Performance – Unit Bhadrachalam bagged the award for 3 consecutive years from 1982 to 1984.

Capacity Utilization Awards
Received the First Prize for Capacity Utilization for 6 consecutive years from 1981 to 1986. This was a creditable feat considering the fact that the company was still under stabilization operationally and financially, in the concerned period.

• Food Grade Certification for our flagship Brands – Cyber XLPac, Pearl Graphik, Safire Graphik, Indobev, Indobarr tested to FDA standard 176.170
• Special Award from Godrej Saralee – in recognition of our efforts towards reducing their Packaging Costs.
• Only Indian Supplier of Liquid Aseptic Packaging Boards to Tetrapak, India
• First Indian manufacturer of Cup Stock Base board
• First integrated paper mill in India to use ECF Pulp in its operations
• Pioneering efforts in the field of Clonal Technology and Research, leading to shorter crop duration and increased productivity for farmers and increased availability of good quality raw material for plant operations.
• On top of all –coverage of 35000 hectares of Plantations up to 2005– a significant step in our efforts towards making the Environment Cleaner and Greener!