In 1921, the mill was established as Carnatic Paper Mills Ltd. at Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. During its initial years the mill was not making any profits and was eventually shut down due to insolvency. In 1929, The Andhra Paper Mills Co. Ltd. was incorporated to take over the assets of Carnatic Paper Mills Ltd. After formation of the State of Andhra Pradesh in 1953, the Andhra government took over the Rajahmundry mill. Its capacity at that time was 10 TPD. Pursuant to a joint venture agreement between Government of Andhra Pradesh and the industrialist, Mr. G. D Somani, the Government agreed to transfer the assets to a new company, to be formed in the name of “The Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Ltd.” Accordingly, the company was incorporated on June 29, 1964, under the Companies Act, 1956. In 1966, Somani transferred his rights and obligations to the West Coast Paper Mills Ltd., which in turn transferred its ownership in 1981 to Digvijay Investments Ltd. controlled by Mr. L N Bangur. The company was a family run business of the Bangurs till 2011.