The plan, which also includes acquisitions of companies, will double the writing and printing paper capacity of Bilt to 6.5 lakh tonnes per annum and pulp production capacity to 4 ltpa.

With this expansion, which would be carried out after the completion of the second stage of Bilt's restructuring by March this year, the company would cross the one million tonne mark in paper and pulp production.

"We want to remain a dominant player in the country's paper business by restructuring our various paper units," Bilt managing director Gautam Thapar said.

Bilt would concentrate on writing and printing paper and would double its capacity with an investment of Rs 180 to Rs 200 crore, he said.

Under the restructuring, Bilt plans to hive-off its industrial paper unit at Ashti (Maharashtra) and its duplex board and other packaging paper unit at Serval (near Coimbatore) into separate companies.

While for the Ashti unit, capacity would be increased from 45,000 tonnes to one lakh tonnes and serval unit from 40,000 tonnes to one lakh tonnes.Thapar claimed that the expansions and restructuring would help Bilt emerge as a leading player in the Asia Pacific paper market adding the impact of restructuring would be reflected in the financial results of the company.

Bilt's net profit increased from Rs 2.13 crore (for 18 months ending September 1998) to Rs 24.44 crore (for nine months ending June 1999). In the first quarter of the current year (July-September) the net profit was around Rs 10 crore.

"For the quarter ending December 1999, the performance has been good and for the full year, the profitability is likely to be much better than last year," Thapar said. He added the cost cutting measures undertaken by the company had also helped in improving profitability. "Bilt has been able to reduce its operating cost by Rs 2,000 per tonne since the restructuring started and in the next two years, the plan will be to reduce the cost further."