Voicing concern over rising imports of paper and paperboards from ASEAN countries, Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) has said that the emerging situation is severely undermining the domestic paper industry.
Quoting the latest data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) the Association said the figures surged by 14 per cent in the first half of FY26. Imports from ASEAN countries reached 2.07 lakh tonnes, compared to 1.82 lakh tonnes in the same period last year. ASEAN now accounts for over 20 per cent of India’s total paper and paperboard imports, which were over 2 million tonnes in FY25.
According to Pawan Agarwal, President, IPMA, the Indian Paper Industry has invested more than ₹30,000 crore in recent years to modernise capacities, adopt clean and green technologies, improve product quality, and promote agroforestry. These investments, and the future of the domestic industry, are being seriously jeopardised by predatory imports being dumped into India, particularly from countries such as Indonesia and China.
The challenge is aggravated by trade agreements that provide huge duty concessions. While imports under the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) attract nil import duty, paper imports from China enjoy a 30 per cent duty concession under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA).
The export-driven economies such as Indonesia and China are increasingly using India as a dumping ground for their surplus paper and paperboard. Indonesian manufacturers benefit from substantial government subsidies and forest concessions, significantly lowering their raw material costs. In contrast, Indian paper mills largely depend on agroforestry-based sourcing from farmers, which involves higher and market-driven costs, the association said.
The situation is expected to worsen further. Significant new paper and paperboard capacities are under implementation in China and Indonesia, while protective import duties imposed by the US and European Union are diverting exports towards markets like India.
The recent exemption of GST on uncoated paper used for notebooks and exercise books has led to IGST on imports reducing to zero. While domestic manufacturers are compelled to increase prices due to the reversal of input tax credit, foreign exporters can ship paper to India without any IGST burden. This widening price differential will result in an exponential increase in imports of uncoated paper as well as finished notebooks and exercise books, severely impacting domestic manufacturers, particularly MSMEs, Agarwal said.
The Association has recommended that the termination clause of AITIGA be invoked if the ongoing review fails to address the fundamental asymmetries and long-standing concerns of the Indian industry. IPMA has also suggested that India should consider withdrawing from the APTA to ensure a level playing field for domestic manufacturers.
