Shree Ajit Pulp and Paper is a single-facility kraft paper maker that turns waste paper into the brown packaging material behind corrugated boxes, food cartons and paper bags. Incorporated in 1995 and producing since 1997, the company has grown from a modest 16,500-tonne plant into a two-unit operation near Vapi, Gujarat, run by a husband-and-wife promoter team with decades of hands-on manufacturing experience. Its recurring approach is to buy and upgrade second-hand capacity - most visibly when it acquired a neighbouring plant in 2022 - and then push that capacity hard, pairing relentless energy efficiency with imported process-control technology to compete in a fragmented industry where many smaller mills are struggling to keep up.
Business segments
Two engines that feed each other - a kraft paper mill that runs at full tilt, and captive power assets that keep its energy-hungry machines spinning at a lower cost than grid electricity.
1. Kraft paper manufacturing: the packaging industry's raw material supplier
The company makes the brown paper that becomes corrugated boxes, carry bags and food cartons - selling entirely to other businesses through a network of agents across western and southern India.
- Wider range than before - the product line once covered 80-350 GSM and 18-35 BF; it now spans 50-350 GSM and 18-40 BF, with Unit-II adding light weights of 40-120 GSM that deliver high tensile and tear performance, so the company can serve everything from heavy-duty boxes to delicate food packaging.
- Customised for each customer - every batch is made to order, and the company is FSC-certified, meaning it can supply chain-of-custody certified kraft paper when a buyer's end-customer demands it.
- Sold through agents, mostly at home - distribution runs through a well-established marketing network of agents in western and southern India; exports do happen and brought in about Rs 33.7 crore in foreign exchange in FY25, but the business is overwhelmingly domestic.
- Revenue recognised at the factory gate - control passes to the buyer on dispatch or shipment, net of returns and taxes, and most customers are unsecured trade receivables whose creditworthiness the company monitors continuously.
2. Captive power: the cost shield for an energy-hungry process
Paper-making consumes enormous amounts of electricity and steam, so the company generates its own - cutting its power bill and insulating itself from grid-price swings.
- Wind plus cogeneration - two windmills in Gujarat with a combined 2.75 MW capacity feed electricity into the grid under a wheeling arrangement with the state utilities, and the units generated are set off against the company's own consumption.
- Steam and power from one boiler - a cogeneration plant, with a capacity of 2.0 MW as of FY24 and 6.85 MW as of Sep 2025, burns coal to produce both process steam for drying paper and electricity for the machines, which is far more efficient than buying power and generating steam separately.
- Squeezing out every watt - the company has installed variable-frequency drives on fans, pumps and cooling towers, replaced DC motors with sectional AC drives, put in a bale breaker to reduce pulper power consumption, and runs an auto-mode combustion system on the boiler, all so that no unit of energy is wasted.
- Heat that would otherwise escape gets captured - condensate recovery, flash steam heat exchangers, insulation jackets on turbine casings and process lines, and regular replacement of thermal insulation on equipment and boilers all conserve heat energy and reduce the coal that needs to be burned.
Manufacturing backbone
A shared technology-and-environment layer that serves the entire plant - imported process-control systems, in-house engineering know-how, and water-recycling loops that keep the mill running clean.
- Machines that adjust themselves - A METSO DCS system automates the power plant, while a METSO refiner controlled by a distributed control system (DCS) prepares the pulp, reducing human error and keeping every reel consistent.
- Water goes around more than once - machine back water is recycled at the paper machine, pulp mill and vacuum pumps, and an IBS shower system reduces fresh water intake, which matters because paper-making is a thirsty process and Gujarat is not water-abundant.
- Waste paper is the main ingredient - the company's key raw material is recycled paper, whose price and availability shift with the seasons, so the company hedges by buying ahead when prices dip and locking in advance contracts.
- 426 people run the whole operation - a lean workforce of technical and management staff (66), clerical and computer-operating staff (263), and workmen (97), led by an executive director for technical matters who brought over 37 years of paper-industry experience when he joined.
Group structure and partners
A tight family-controlled structure with one dormant subsidiary, one joint venture for future paper and board business, and banking relationships with four lenders.
- Wholly owned but idle - Shree Samrudhi Industrial Papers Private Limited was acquired in April 2010 and has not yet commenced business.
- A 50:50 joint venture for paper and board - Shree Samrat Pulp and Paper LLP, converted from a private limited company in December 2023, partners with three other stakeholders including Godavari Pulp and Paper Mills to manufacture and trade all kinds of paper, board and pulp; new partners can only join with unanimous consent.
- Promoters at the helm - Gautam D. Shah and Bela G. Shah run the company, and their son Varun Shah has been appointed Technical Manager, embedding the next generation into operations.
- Four banks, one rating trajectory - State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Axis Bank and Karur Vysya Bank are the company's bankers; its ICRA credit rating has moved from A- to A and back down to BBB+ over the past five years.