US tariffs couldn't come at a worse time for India's largest paper maker

MUMBAI/HONG KONG (March 24): Creditors of India’s largest paper maker Ballarpur Industries Ltd. may face costly unintended consequences from punitive US duties on some of the company’s Asian competitors.

Ballarpur invested heavily in recent years to modernize its production facilities, and now may not be able to avoid defaulting on its debts, Fitch Ratings Ltd. said Monday. The imposition by the US of duties on Chinese and Indonesian paper in mid-2015 couldn’t have come at worse time for Ballarpur, as it prompted companies from those nations to seek more sales in India. India itself is reducing paper import tariffs.

The result is a toxic mix for Ballarpur, founded in 1945, and now in an industry under siege from overcapacity and increased digitization, as people turn to e-readers instead of books and newspapers. It is also a reminder of the far-reaching consequences that protectionist measures can have at a time when President Donald Trump is just putting shape to his America First policies.

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