Sector Snapshot · Printing & Publication

India's Paper and Print Industry Builds Toward Higher Capacity

A fast-read primer on India's printing and publication sector — the backdrop against which we benchmark every company's cost structure in this category.

5%
India's share of global paper production (ranks 15th)
850
Number of paper mills in India
~25 mn tonnes
Annual paper production, en route to ~35mn tonnes by FY30
95.03%
Industry capacity utilisation rate
100%
FDI allowed under automatic route

Capacity Utilisation Is High, With More Growth Ahead

The industry already runs near full capacity, and production is set to rise substantially by FY30.

Industry-Wide Paper Production (million tonnes)

Current → FY30 forecast

~25 MT
Current
~35 MT
FY30F

Installed Capacity vs. Production (million tonnes)

FY24-25

5.20 MT
Installed Capacity
4.94 MT
Actual Production

What's Pushing the Sector Forward

Global scale, near-full capacity utilisation, and supportive policy define this category.

Global Position
  • 5% of global paper production, ranks 15th worldwide
Industry Scale
  • 850 paper mills producing ~25 million tonnes annually
Policy Support
  • 100% FDI under the automatic route
  • GST on packing paper reduced to 5%

Recent Developments

A sample of the industry-wide and policy moves shaping the sector through early 2026.

Companies We Benchmark in This Sector

Listed Indian Printing & Publication companies in tDoBe's cost-benchmarking coverage.

MPS
Repro India
S Chand & Company
Dachepalli Publishers
Chetana Educational
Shakti Press
Inland Printers
Infomedia Press
Unick Fix-A-Form

The Cost Benchmark — What We Actually FoundtDoBe Think Report

The market facts above are public background. What follows is tDoBe's own work: every "Other Expenses" line from these companies' own financial records, read by hand and sorted into one clear set of categories — not a keyword search, not each company's own way of reporting it.

18.2%
tDoBe Average — Other Expenses as % of net revenue
2.4×
Gap between the highest and lowest company
16
Cost categories, sorted by meaning
3.0%
Biggest single category — Miscellaneous/Others
FY25/26
Latest available financial records

Where Companies Land — Total Other Expenses

Each mark is one company's total Other Expenses as % of net revenue. No company is named here.

18.2%
0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%

tDoBe Average by Cost Category

Ranked from biggest to smallest.

Miscellaneous/Others
3.0%
Freight/Distribution & Logistics
1.3%
Travel & Conveyance
1.2%
Repairs & Maintenance
1.1%
Legal & Professional Fees
1.1%
Total Other Expenses
18.2%
Where the Cost Really Sits

Miscellaneous/Others leads at 3.0% of revenue, with Freight/Distribution & Logistics (1.3%) and Travel & Conveyance (1.2%) next — physically distributing printed material is a real, recurring cost here.

Why the Range Still Varies

Royalty & Brand/Technical Fees is dominated by one book publisher's author-royalty line — a sector-specific reading of 'royalty' as content-acquisition cost rather than brand licensing — and that kind of business-model difference, across an otherwise fairly homogeneous set of printers and publishers, keeps the spread moderate at 2.4x.

Two Companies Held Back

Two of the nine companies whose filings were collected disclosed zero revenue from operations for the year — a ratio against zero revenue is undefined, so both are excluded from the seven-company peer set entirely, not just held out of the average.

See Where Your Own Company Stands

This is the free, sector-wide view. It tells you where Printing & Publication stands as a whole — not where your own company stands against it, category by category, in rupees.

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$999
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$4,999
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A below-average number is a reason to call too — the benchmark keeps improving as we go.

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Compiled from public government and industry sources, February 2026 update · Figures rounded · tDoBe sector snapshot, for informational purposes · Cost Benchmark findings compiled from companies' own financial records, FY2025/26.