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It is important to evaluate the performance of industries in a growing economy like India through responsible resource use assessments. The article estimates ecological footprint (EF) to communicate the environmental effects of a paperboard and paper production unit in India based on information collected through face-to-face interview method. EF has been calculated by adopting component or bottom-up approach taking into consideration all the components of EF (land, energy, freight and employees transport, water, materials and wastes). Results show that the total EF for production and allied activities of the case study unit varies between 5,62,845 and 2,15,564 ha and EF per tonne of production varying between 23.61 and 9.03 ha. This is based on the production of 23,828 Mt of output of specialty and tissues paper, and the variation occurs due to higher and lower conversion factor for materials and water. The hotspots of EF are energy, materials and wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]