Jan 11, 2006. /Lesprom Network/. Paper prices in India have increased by about 30% percent since December 2005 and are being quoted between INR 18 000 ($407.5) and INR 35 000 ($792.3) per tonne, depending on their grades. The price increase is attributed to the recent manipulation of newsprint prices and also to the steep rise in the cost of raw materials like wood, bagasse and imported waste paper. As against the consumption of 6.478 million tonnes, the production is only 5.94 million tonnes. Per capita paper consumption in India is 6 kg and is estimated to grow up to 10 kg in near future. An increase of one kg per capita will lead to an increase in demand of 1 million tonnes. The INR 170 billion ($3.8 billion) Indian paper industry is not able to find a solution to the inputs crunch, as cutting live trees for use is out of question, since unplanted wood is cut and sold through government tenders. Secondly, there is no waste paper recycling system in India and waste paper is imported from abroad.