SWOT ANALYSIS

The SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all
sorts of situations in business and organizations. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Information about the origins and inventors of SWOT
analysis is below. The SWOT analysis headings provide a good framework for reviewing
strategy, position and direction of a company or business proposition, or any other idea.

Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over

others.

Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to

others.

Opportunities: elements that the project could exploit to its advantage.

Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or
project.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF BALLARPUR INDUSTRIES LTD. (BILT)

STRENGHTS
1. Highly experience management team: BILTs management team displays extensive
industry and operational experience and has a proven track record of managing
significant capacity expansion.
Key management of BILT includes
Mr. Neehar Aggarwal, Senior vice president, Operations ( all with bilt)
Mr. Yogesh Aggarwal, CEO ( 26 yrs experience and 12 years with BILT)
Mr. Bharat Tandon, Sales & Marketing ( 26 years experience & 18 with BILT)
2. Maximum variety of paper: BILT is the largest domestic paper company in India. It is
one of the largest producer of CWF and Hi-bright UWF papers in India. It is also the only
domestic player able to offer both higher quality coated and uncoated papers.
3. Unique distribution system: BILT unique distribution system is a paramount component
of the companys approach to serve the broad customer base quickly and cost efficiently.
BILT operates a multi-tier distribution system.
4. High quality of paper: Supported by the well established BILT brand, the company
marketing and communication strategy focuses on high product quality.

5. Unique customer service: BILT is able to provide better service than smaller domestic
competitors and imports.
6. Premium and reliable pricing strategy: BILTs high quality product and unique
domestic marketing and distribution strategy are the key strategic elements to achieve
premium pricing and further market postioning.
WEAKNESSES
1. Raw material: Availability of raw materials is one of the biggest barriers to growth of the
BILT paper industry. It depends on wood, recycled paper, and residues from the
agriculture industry for its pulp needs, and the supply of each is limited and problematic.
2. Land acquisition. Lack of a balanced law to enable acquisition of land for development
has been heightened by some recent issues. These high-profile disputes between large
companies and the local population have created a financial burden that might give pause
to those considering setting up new large greenfield operations. The most notable disputes
in 2010 included Tata Motors moving its factory from the state of West Bengal to Gujarat
following the inability of Tata to acquire land from farmers. This was followed by
POSCO, a large South Korean company, going to the highest courts in India to begin
construction of the single largest foreign investment to date.
Most of the disputes have arisen because there are no clear guidelines or laws to address
fair compensation and rehabilitation of displaced populations. A new bill that replaces the
Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to address some of the concerns has been tabled in the
Indian parliament and not passed.
3. Unskilled Labor. India has a large available pool of unskilled and skilled labor and the
advantage of very low labor costs. The outdated labor laws, however, (some predating
Indias independence) may not be conducive to a sound operating environment. The Trade
Union Act of 1926 provides for the recognition of the unions. The act allows any seven
workers to register as a trade union, but has no provision for union recognition (e.g.,
through a secret ballot procedure). This has led to a multiplicity of unions, with outsiders
not concerned about the company or its employees playing a prominent role. Regulation
of labor management relations are in the purview of state governments, and it varies
among states. Resolutions of disputes are known to take an inordinate amount of time,
sometimes lasting into years.

Some of the other weakness are:

4. Lack of local capability for design and development and machinery manufacture +
5.
6.
7.
8.

process control systems.

High energy costs (from grid).
High cost of financing.
Quality and availability of some of the domestic pigments and chemicals.
Environmental problems of most of the small pulp mills and also some big mills.

OPPORTUNITIES
1. Government literacy program increasing demand for printing/writing papers: The
government has increased focus on education and initiated several central and state-level
programs such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (Education for All) and Operation Blackboard.
This has had a positive effect on Indias literacy rate, which has increased by 9.2 percent
in the last decade to reach approximately 74 percent in 2013. The result has been
increased expenditure on textbooks and notebooks, providing a good opportunity for
paper companies. Additionally, with higher literacy levels, circulation of other print
media, such as newspapers, has also increased.
2. Potential for plantations. There is potential to increase tree farming by teaming with
farmers. The Indian paper industry players have launched an agro-forestry initiative,
under which they have established a close relationship with the farming community in
rural India for planting trees. By 2014, this initiative brought more than 50,000 hectare
under cultivation with pulp wood plantations. As a part of the agro-forestry initiative, big
players in the Indian paper industry have also set up state-of-the-art research and
Development centers for developing high-yielding saplings, which are then given to local
farmers and land owners every year at subsidized rates for planting on their marginal
lands. In return, farmers will have access to buyers at market pricing. In the process, their
nonproductive land is converted into an economic entity, including greening of arid tracts.
While the agro-forestry model adopted by the industry has helped improve plantations
and augment pulpwood availability to some extent, these efforts are by no means
sufficient to meet the growing need. It is necessary to have captive plantations to access
raw material at cost-effective prices.
3. Productivity. The Indian paper industry is very fragmented with a lot of small and
medium-sized mills. Fewer than 25 mills have the capacity to produce over 50,000 tons

and trim widths of most machines are less than 5 meters. Most of the technologies are
obsolete or outdated. Energy consumption of most of the paper mills is very high
compared to the machines in Europe and the United States. This, coupled with the high
cost of energy, increases cost pressures. High water consumption, low chemical recovery,
and inefficient labor productivity make the case for a significant investment in newer
machines that are bigger, faster, and wider. Most of the mills are very far from meeting a
brightness target of 89 percent. Investment is also required for improving the quality of
paper using better quality control systems (QCS) and distribution control systems (DCS).
4. Emergence of ancillary products ( packaging ): Indian packaging industry is currently
valued at INR 650 billion (US$13.5 billion) and is expected to grow to INR 825 billion
(US$17 billion) by 2015. Additionally, the Indian FMCG sector is growing at a rapid rate
due to strong demand from a large and growing middle class. As a result, the packaging
industry, growing by more than 15 percent annually, will likely increase demand for
corrugated boxes, leading to increased demand for kraft papers, the key raw material.
5. Increased corporate activity and changing lifestyle: India is the second largest print
market in the world, with a readership base of over 250 million. There are approximately
130,000 printing presses in India. The printing and packaging industry is growing at a
compound annual growth rate of over 16.2 percent since 1989. The strong growth in the
printing industry is expected to continue to fuel the demand for paper.
THREATS
1. Entry of the substitutes like plastics, e-paper and other products.
2. Unprepared mills for international competition (WTO entry) both on price and quality
3. Decline in capacity due to environmental pressures
4. Decline in capacity as some of the segments/group of mills are unable to compete at
5. National and international levels with respect to quality and cost of products.
6. Short term planning for raw material
7. Fragmented market makes entry for a world scale unit difficult
8. Delayed forest plantations, deficit of wood fibres
9. Lack of international perspective in project development and implementation
10. Capacity of announced projects is small considering market growth will speed up
import growth.
11. Weakening competitiveness of domestic industry due to shortage and cost of basic inputs.
12. Perceived difficulty of operating environment reduces the speed of FDI