New Delhi, Aug. 25 :    New Delhi, Aug. 25:  Ballarpur Industries Ltd (Bilt), the paper major, is planning to axe 10 per cent of its 13,000-strong workforce over the next two to three years. The company hopes to save Rs 12 crore-about 10 per cent of its Rs 120 crore annual wage bill-because of the roster cuts, said group finance director B. Hariharan. The cut in the workforce will be implemented through a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). Hariharan said technological upgradation at the company would render a number of workers redundant. The buyout of Sinar Mas India's operations in early May under a deal valued at Rs 520 crore would also lead to a saving of Rs 100 crore which it otherwise would have had to incur if it had expanded its existing facilities to create a comparable capacity to manufacture coated paper. Hariharan said a three-member committee set up to examine plans for the consolidation of Sinar Mas and Bilt would submit its report by the first week of September. A final decision will be taken at a meeting of the board of directors on October 15. If cleared, the process is expected to be completed by February, he added. Earlier, Gautam Thapar, Bilt's vice-chairman and managing director, had said Bilt would acquire the Sinar Mas shares from BILT Paper Holding Company (the LMT group company which had bought Sinar Mas) 'at the original valuation'. The committee was formed to decide the quantum of shares that Bilt would buy and the route to be used to raise funds to finance the deal. 'The capital can be raised through a rights issue, preferential allotment or private placement, or any combination of these. A rights element will definitely be there as we will BILT shareholders the opportunity to acquire these shares,' Hariharan said. If Bilt acquires the entire shareholding, it will have to pay Rs 293 crore which is equivalent to the equity component of the Sinar Mas deal, he added.