Kochi,  Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the now state-owned Kerala Paper Products Limited (KPPL) on Thursday when the first reel of paper after its revival is set to roll out. It was after lengthy deliberations that the Kerala government was able to take over the erstwhile Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited at Velloor near here and the first phase of restructuring the unit has been completed.

The total outlay for the revival plan was Rs 154.39 crore including the working capital component of Rs 75.15 crore.

It was in 1974 in pursuance of the industrial development of the state, that a long-term Principal Agreement was entered into between the Kerala government and Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (which was under the administrative jurisdiction of the Government of India) for the establishment of a large-scale paper manufacturing unit at Velloor in Kottayam district.

The agreement then was the Kerala government will provide specified quantity of wood raw materials, water, power and develop required infrastructure for facilitating the establishment of the unit.

In addition, in 1979, the state government acquired and leased about 700 acres of land for the operations of this paper manufacturing unit as Hindustan Newsprint Limited (HNL).

For close to three decades the plant did well but then started declining during the subsequent decade due to various reasons and finally the operations got stopped in January 2019.

State Industries Minister P Rajeev said that it was at this juncture, the Vijayan government expressed its willingness to take over the reins of the company and turn it around.

But the Government of India failed to heed to this request and subsequently Corporate Insolvency and Resolution Process (CIRP) was initiated by NCLT Kochi Bench on November 28, 2019.

As part of the CIRP, Expression of Interest (EoI) was invited from prospective resolution applicants.

Then the Kerala Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA), on behalf of Government of Kerala submitted its resolution application.

NCLT, Kochi approved the resolution plan submitted by KINFRA and accordingly the company was taken over by the State Government.

The Registrar of Companies (RoC) accorded approval and issued the Certificate of Incorporation on December 20, 2021 for the incorporation of the company as Kerala Paper Products Limited (KPPL).