Institute of Economic Growth

AS many as nine large and 42 small mills have been closed in the last four months, thus decommissioning capacity of two lakh tonnes. The small units which account for 35 per cent of the installed 19.5 lakh tonnes capacity have been affected the most. Of 118 new paper units financed by IDBI since 1980, 40 are closed. What is more, barring two, none of the small units have been servicing their debts to the financial institutions in the past couple of years. Production of paper fell from 12.5 lakh tonnes in 1982 to Il lakh tonnes in 1983. Capacity utilisation has been declining continuously since 1977, from 82.5 per cent in that year to 68 per cent in 1982 and