In the beginning of the first decade of the new millennium, PSA/self-adhesive labelstock started evolving and Avery Dennison was already producing in India, while also importing specialty materials from their various plants around the world to offer to Indian label printers. The local manufacturers were largely making commodity labelstocks with semi-gloss or art papers, uncoated maplitho or woodfree paper, and mirror-coated or cast gloss paper as face material. They did not have access to such a large variety of face materials in their product inventory. At that time, local manufacturers started looking for and importing stock lots of paper from European paper mills. These stock lots were basically production overruns, offcuts, or out-of-spec material, which was acceptable at that time in India. The author’s company also brought in such material for some time, but later the “me-too” factor triggered off, and many traders began opening the floodgates with materials of quality that varied from good to near-rejects, coming to India. They would bring it in by weight, while fresh materials were sold per square meter. The materials were unwound, inspected, sorted, and slitted by affordable workmen to be sold to label converters. It was perhaps at Labelexpo 2003 in Brussels that the author was sitting at the booth of a paper mill, enquiring about stock lot materials. While in discussions, a young man in his thirties came and suddenly started talking to the exhibitor, stating: “Whatever you can offer in stagnant stocks, side runs, or out-of-spec material, now or in the next two years, I will buy all of it at advance payment, and for that I can keep a substantial advance with you!” Realising that his meeting with the paper mill representative had come to an end, the author quietly got up and walked away, leaving the two to carry on their discussion. That young man was Vinay Jain, grandson of Mithan Lal Jain, who set up his paper trading Mithan ji Group in 1933.
In fact, Vinay’s labelstock manufacturing company, MLJ, was also named using the initials of his grandfather’s name.
The author interviewed Siddarth Jain, Director of MLJ Industries Limited and Vinay Jain’s younger son. This article is written with inputs provided by him. Until the 1990s, the Jains, with their two companies MLM India and MLM Mithan Lal Marketing, were doing trading for different Indian paper mills. As per Siddarth, in 1995–96 there were just four or five paper trading companies in India representing large paper mills, and they were one of them. In 1990, a young 25-year-old Vinay Jain set up his maiden manufacturing venture, a kraft paper mill in Bhopal. Unfortunately, that project did not work out well. In search of larger opportunities beyond representing Indian paper mills, in 1993 he travelled to the USA to look for more opportunities, maintaining his focus in the paper industry. He considered many options such as stock lots of different varieties of paper, prime materials, or anything in the paper trade that could be sold in India. After this American trip in 1993, while still serving as agents for Indian paper mills, he decided to shift his focus from Indian paper to imported materials. He found success and started to replicate and grow the paper import business. By 1996–97, their company MLM was on a steady growth path, having started importing stock lots of any kind of paper, whether it be labelstock, tea paper, kraft, medical paper, or any type of paper or paperboard, MBP, SBS, and different types of board. Success led them to establish their own first warehouse in Alipur, Delhi, to unload and stock an increasing number of incoming containers. They also set up a facility to sort papers and convert them to workable formats like sheets and rolls.
Vinay Jain flanked by sons Chirag and Sidharth Vinay Jain quit studies after high school, passing out of Happy School, Darya Ganj, in 1984–85 when he was just 19 years old, to join as the third generation in the family’s paper business. Spearheading the diversification and growth of MLM, and being the only son, the leadership of their group came to him directly after his grandfather. A 22-year-old Vinay, in 1987, got married to Meenakshi, an alumna of Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, from where she completed her B.Com. (Hons.). They were blessed with two sons: elder son Chirag, born in 1988, and younger son Siddarth, born in 1990. Growing up, both siblings saw little of their father, who was constantly travelling for business. Meenakshi remained a pillar of strength for the Jain household, despite also pursuing her passion for fashion and running her boutique from home.Chirag went to Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi. He passed out in 2006 and later went to SMU, Dallas, USA for further studies, and then to the UK for his master’s degree, before returning to India. Later, Chirag went to Africa to start a paper converting factory in Ethiopia for cutting and packing paper in A4 sheets under the brand Nyle, which they later sold to a local person. They then started the same in Nigeria, along with setting up a corrugated box factory in Ethiopia. While he was in the U.S., Chirag had started an office in Hong Kong for global trading in paper. They still have this office, trading with 120 countries worldwide. The office is managed by staff and Chirag visits once a year.Siddarth went to Air Force Bal Bharti School, Lodi Road, Delhi, followed by further education in international business studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, from 2009 to 2012. On return, he joined the family’s paper business, starting a warehouse in Mandoli, Delhi, where imported paper was cut into roll form and sheet form. After joining, Siddarth worked on the basics, learning about paper, but he did not see much value addition in the paper business they were doing. Wishing to move into another arena, he started a road construction company in Gwalior. A company based in Kolkata had obtained a contract for building the Morena-Sambhal Ganj Highway from MPRDC, a government entity. They subcontracted it to him in 2013. He used to travel daily from Delhi to Gwalior and back for six months, leaving home at 4 a.m. and returning late in the evening at 10–11 p.m. Unfortunately, five years on, the company that held the contract went into bankruptcy, leaving Siddarth wondering what came next. Their paper business was doing well, so he returned to it. Both brothers received hands-on training within the family business framework.
Vinay Jain now heads the overall business, and both sons are looking after diverse ventures. He has been the mentor to his sons and the visionary in the extended Jain family. Siddarth fondly talks about his father and says, “We have all done what he has envisioned. For us, that has been the way forward and the biggest motivation.” Vinay taught them to stay grounded. His vision was clear: start small and work your way up to be either number one or number two in your field. Creating wealth through success was another guiding principle for Vinay Jain, who also started investing in real estate. He motivated his sons to never lose heart in adversity and to keep giving their best to achieve more. Chirag had been in Africa; he returned and took over the trading business that had been handled by his father, in addition to the international business.
Sidharth on shopfloor Having been traders all their lives, they were yearning to become manufacturers, and given their capability and experience in paper sourcing, the family took a decision to set up a labelstock manufacturing factory. A new project, MLJ Industries, was planned at Greater Noida. As luck would have it, they started working on the project just as the entire world was impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns. Although neither Siddarth nor Chirag had any manufacturing experience, they began setting up the unit together. Being industry suppliers, support and advice came from industry friends in India and abroad, helping them put together a facility for manufacturing self-adhesive labelstocks. Vinay’s friendship with Calvin Frost of Channelled Resources Group, who is known for his lifelong commitment to environmental sustainability and recycling, proved invaluable. Calvin provided important inputs and visited their plant. They then hired a consultant to complete the plant, making productive use of the lockdown period while the rest of the industry was combating COVID-19.Speaking about the challenges faced with rejections of startup material, they were fortunate to have started during COVID times, when people did not have material to run. So, whatever they could produce as workable was sold. Wastage and rejections did occur, but it was a tremendous learning experience that has helped them scale up their operations with better quality. Their plant head, who had worked at SMI for 15 years, brought in considerable experience that greatly benefited the team. In the first couple of years, they reached a production of 5 million square meters per month, which has now escalated to 15 million square meters per month. Nostalgically, Siddarth mentions that one of his first sales was made to Harish Gupta of Sai Com Codes, Rai, in Sonipat. Their first major success was the export of a full container sold to the Manipal Group for their Kenya unit, without any rejections. This order came to them within the first three months of starting production.Present Spread of Operations
MLJ Plant
The labelstock manufacturing plant is spread over a plot size of three and a half acres, with a shop floor of 100,000 square feet, with plans to increase this to 125,000 square feet later this year. Total workforce, including factory and office, is around 300. They offer over 200 different SKUs, with a variety of papers, films, and liners with diverse adhesives depending upon customers’ needs and applications.
MLJ laboratory A fully equipped laboratory enables them to test their products and undertake new developments. A label die-cutting machine helps them check the efficacy of the material as regards converting and matrix removal. Though all inputs at this stage are outsourced, they have plans to start manufacturing adhesives for captive use and for the market as well. Four acres of land for an adhesives factory has already been acquired at Sonipat in Haryana, where they plan to construct a 150,000 square feet shop floor to start production of variants of both acrylic emulsion and hotmelt adhesives in 2027. An ambitious target has also been set to manufacture thermal paper in-house. With 4 coating machines for silicone and adhesive coating, they are running at full capacity, producing 15 million square meters per month. Two more tandem coaters, 1.60 metres in width, are planned for installation in September 2026, taking their capacity to 70 million square meters per month. The new machines coming in have capabilities for coating UV silicone and UV hotmelt adhesive. Their present annual turnover at MLJ, as per Siddarth, is ₹323 Crores, or approximately USD 35–36 million. He is confident that in the next five years they will grow four times their present size, to be amongst the top three labelstock manufacturing companies in India.
Mithanji group corporate office
Siddarth shared that MLJ will soon open slitting and distribution facilities in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Their corporate office is in Sector 2, Noida, with an additional office in Delhi, and sales agents across India and abroad. They export to 15 countries, with exports accounting for 30% of their turnover. MLJ participates in international and Indian exhibitions.
Sustainability Initiatives
For sustainability, MLJ is replacing part of their liner with recycled fibre glassine, using rPET with significant recycled material content, and planning other filmic liners. They also produce linerless stock for the VIP/EDP industry. All production waste is sent to a government-authorised hazardous waste recycling facility, and they are implementing systems to reduce waste during production. Additionally, MLJ collaborates with brands to downscale material thickness without affecting performance. Their CSR activities are conducted through their philanthropic foundation, in partnership with NGOs.
Written by Harveer Sahni, Chairman, Weldon Celloplast Ltd., New Delhi, May 2026
