Eastern India’s Growing Kraft Paper Powerhouse
Where It All Began
In 2019, a studious young electrical engineer, neck-deep in a PhD program at UC Berkeley, was faced with an unenviable choice. The life he was trying to build: finish his PhD, accept a well-paid research position in the US, and pursue the quiet, intellectually engaging life of an academic. Or the life he was born to inherit: drop out of the program, return to India, and accept his role as Dwipayan Patnaik, scion of a prominent business family - complete with all the risks and uncertainty of entrepreneurship, and political machinations of a family-owned business.
He deliberated long and hard, but destiny has a way of catching up with the destined. Later that year, Dwipayan Patnaik walked out of his University apartment for the last time, and flew back to India to join his father, Mr. S.K. Patnaik, and the Patnaik Group.
The Patnaik Group is an Odisha-based business house. Over the course of 4 generations, and most recently under the guidance of Mr. S.K. Patnaik, the company has grown from a single mine to a ₹1500Cr. empire, with a portfolio that includes:
Natural resource stewardship
Iron Ore & Manganese mining and mineral processing through Patnaik Minerals Pvt. Ltd. Railway siding services through Banspani Iron Ltd., a joint venture with the Rungta Group.
Renewable energy
Wind farms across Gujarat & Maharashtra, generating 100MW of clean energy, in partnership with Suzlon Energy.
Affordable education
Pre-primary, primary and secondary schooling at Ravindra Vidya Niketan, a not-for-profit school in Keonjhar that educates approximately 3,000 students at subsidised fees.
Lifestyle ventures
Rabisons Mall, the first mall in Keonjhar district. Located at Barbil, Odisha, it offers a movie theatre, game zone, salon, dining & retail outlets.
Dwipayan Patnaik saw the company as a solid foundation, on which to build something new from scratch, just as his grandfather & father had done before him. While exploring possibilities for a new venture, he saw that paper & packaging had a lot of potential. He decided to enter the recycled kraft paper industry, and build a world-class facility - technologically advanced, environmentally friendly, at a globally competitive scale - the likes of which the Indian kraft paper industry had never seen before.
This led to the acquisition of Stark Ridge Paper. The original promoters had abandoned the project halfway through building the plant in Jharkhand. The Patnaik Group completed the project, upgrading it with state-of-the-art technology capable of producing 200 tons of smell-free kraft paper every day. The plant officially began operations in 2020.
Vision, Mission & Values
Our vision
Our vision is to help India realize its dream of becoming “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, by becoming a globally competitive paper manufacturing hub, reducing India’s foreign import dependency, and strengthening India’s position in global supply chains.
Our mission
Our mission is to consistently raise the bar for the Indian Paper Industry, by implementing cutting-edge technology at globally competitive scales, producing world-class eco-friendly paper, with a level of accountability and customer obsession that’s never been seen before in India.
Our Values
Trust & Transparency
We offer our customers a level of transparency like no other paper manufacturer in India does. We have clear terms of business, with uniform pricing & offers. Our one-of-a-kind customer portal is just as user friendly as navigating Amazon, and is designed to allow customers to track their order statuses in real time - no lags, no following up with our sales & marketing team.
Innovation
We push the boundaries of what is possible. We adopt the best technology & practices from around the world to enhance our processes efficiency, sustainability, product quality & customer experience. Our in-house R&D team collaborates with leading paper technologists & industry experts globally to develop new products.
Authenticity
Being new entrants in the industry allows us to view old problems with a fresh perspective and find unique innovative solutions. We don’t try to replicate what the rest of the industry does, we strive to stand out by setting new benchmarks for the industry.
The People Behind The Paper
Meet the leaders who drive our vision, shape our policies, and inspire our team:
Saroj Kumar Patnaik
ChairmanMr. Saroj Kr. Patnaik is a stalwart of the Indian mining fraternity. After completing his B.E. (electrical) from Bangalore University, he became the third generation to join the family’s mining business & eventually took over from his father, Late Mr. Rabindra N. Patnaik, in 1995.
As the chairman of the Patnaik Group, he lays the roadmap for the group’s expansion into new industries and into new verticals within these industries. Under his leadership, the group has expanded into a 1500 crore conglomerate with businesses in mining, mineral processing, renewable energy, and education.
Dwipayan Patnaik
MD & CEOMr. Dwipayan Patnaik (son of Mr. S.K. Patnaik) was born as the scion of the Patnaik Group. Despite being born into affluence, he was determined to be self-made, and completed his education in the US on scholarships & University grants. He did his electrical engineering graduation at UIUC & post-graduation at UC Berkeley, publishing several research papers during his academic career. He returned to India in 2019, and became the 4th generation to join the family business. There, he initiated the Group’s diversification into the paper industry with Stark Ridge Paper.
As the CEO of Stark Ridge Paper, Mr. Dwipayan Patnaik sets the company’s vision. With his passion for engineering & innovation, he spearheads the adoption of new technologies & practices to attain that vision.
Niranjan Mohanty
Deputy CEOMr. Niranjan Mohanty is a Chartered Accountant at the Patnaik Group, where he managed finance, treasury, risk management, accounting, taxation, internal audits & contracts. After over 25 years of experience, including 10 years with Patnaik Group, he has experience in accounts, taxation, costing & finance, across industries like mining & mineral processing, energy, and now paper & packaging.
He has been associated with Stark Ridge Paper since its inception, and is currently the Deputy CEO. In this role he heads the operations of the business, ensuring good governance, regulatory compliance & profitability. Under his supervision, Stark Ridge Paper is advancing steadily towards its short-term & long-term goals.
Binay Ranjan Satapathy
Commercial HeadMr. Binay Rajan Satapathy holds an MBA from XIMB. He has been associated with the Patnaik Group for over 30 years, and with Stark Ridge Paper since its inception. He is currently the Commercial Head at Stark Ridge Paper, where he manages commercials, public relations & community outreach activities.
Why A Squirrel?
Our logo isn’t a design choice. It’s a declaration.
The creature on our logo is the Ratufa indica malabarica, the Malabar Giant Squirrel. Found only in India, across the Deccan Plateau and into the forested regions of Jharkhand, where our plant stands. Employees at our facility often spot it playing in the trees nearby. It’s one of the most visually striking animals on the subcontinent, a flash of rust, violet, and cream moving through the forest canopy. It’s also under serious pressure. The Malabar Giant Squirrel is legally protected under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The primary threat to its survival is the loss of mature forest canopy, driven by human expansion and, in part, by demand for virgin woodpulp to manufacture paper.
At Stark Ridge Paper, we manufacture paper entirely from recycled fibre. No virgin pulp, no trees felled for our reels. And it’s why we picked this squirrel - the one whose home overlaps with ours, whose survival is tied to exactly the kind of industrial choices we make every day. The Malabar Giant Squirrel represents what Stark Ridge Paper exists to prove: that manufacturing and ecological responsibility are not opposites. That a paper plant can grow, serve its customers well, and still leave the forest standing.
And we’ve gone further. The green zone around our plant has been designed to closely resemble the Malabar Giant Squirrel’s natural habitat. It gives wild squirrels from surrounding areas a safe place to shelter and raise their young, to help their population recover.
The side benefits? We’ll admit them. The Malabar Giant Squirrel also happens to be beautiful. Curious-looking. Memorable. And the moment people see it, they ask “Why a squirrel?” That question is the beginning of a conversation we’re always glad to have. We chose it deliberately, as a reminder of what’s at stake when industry gets its choices wrong, and what becomes possible when it gets them right.