There has been an increase in the number of startups across India. These companies are emerging across several sectors such as technology, healthcare, e-commerce, and fintech. Indian Government has also extended support to various Startups. Now, an Assam-based Startup company, Kumbhi Kagaz is making headlines for its ideation. The company has received praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It became more special as the PM visited company’s stall during Advantage Assam 2.0 event.
What’s Special About Kumbhi Kagaz ?
Kumbhi Kagaz, founded by Rupankar Bhattacharjee and Aniket Dhar started with an aim to conserve wetlands and the ecosystem. Kumbhi Kagaz is involved in making paper from water hyacinth. Water hyacinth, popularly known as “Meteka”, is an invasive plant/ weed that poses threat to wetlands.
The paper prepared by the company is handmade, biodegradable, chemical free and tree free. 50 Tonnes of Water Hyacinth has been removed till date due to the effort of the company. The company goes with Hashtag of ‘DeshKaKagaz.’
Speaking to ANI, co-founder Rupankar Bhattacharjee said, “Co-founder Aniket and I set up this company Kumbhi Kagaz, and we are the only company in India that makes chemical-free, handmade paper from water hyacinth. We make notebooks, calendars etc…”
He said that they started their journey after a discussion with Jayaditya Purkayastha in 2016-17. Jayaditya Purkayastha, a renowned scientist and herpetologist is their mentor. “He (Jayaditya) told us that water hyacinth is a big problem of wetlands in India, and wetlands ecosystem is damaged because of water hyacinth. We started converting 100 percent of water hyacinth fibres into pulp into paper,” Rupankar added.
Rupankar further stated that more than 100 people are associated with the initiative, and 16 people are working in unit as of now.
“We work in a community based near Deepor Beel in the Guwahati and Kaziranga Agoratoli range. The Field Director of Kaziranga National Park is very much supporting us in our project. The community people in Kaziranga are associated with us,” he said.
He added, “In 2023, I got the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister, and this time in Advantage Assam 2.0, the Prime Minister visited our stall on February 24, and he talked with us, and we are very lucky that we got to meet the Prime Minister. We want to go to automated paper manufacturing. The handmade paper industry in India is a 2.5 billion dollar market, and it will reach 10 billion dollars by 2030. We want to be a game-changer in this.”
Notably, PM Modi had mentioned about ‘Kumbhi Kagaz’ during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address in 2023.
