Displaying items by tag: India

India: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with JK Cement to support startups, entrepreneurs and innovation in manufacturing. The partnership will provide access to JK Cement’s infrastructure, manufacturing and research and development facilities, mentorship programmes, pilot projects and university resources.

India: Cement companies are expected to report weak financial results for the December quarter of the 2025 financial year due to lower demand, suppressed by reduced government infrastructure spending and weak private capital expenditure, according to The Hindu Businessline.

Large players, including UltraTech Cement and Ambuja Cements, are expected to lead demand growth by 8% year-on-year in the December quarter, but earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) may decline by 18%. Efforts to increase prices in October and November 2024 were rolled back, and a mid-December increase reportedly failed to boost profits.

Parvez Qazi, research analyst at Nuvama Research, said “We expect further consolidation in the space mostly in the southern region due to its fragmented nature. Softening fuel prices, along with cost efficiency measures undertaken by various players, are likely to provide some relief on the cost front, thereby cushioning the impact of weak realisations to some extent.”

Consolidation in the Indian cement sector continued through December 2024. UltraTech Cement completed its acquisition of a larger stake in The India Cements late in the month. Then, this week, Nuvoco Vistas said that it was preparing to buy Vadraj Cement. Along similar lines, JK Lakshmi Cement also confirmed that it was moving ahead with the merger of its cement-related subsidiaries.

The UltraTech Cement deal was approved by its board of directors in July 2024 but it took until 24 December 2024 before it formally completed the purchase of an additional 33% stake in The India Cements. The deal was valued at around US$460m in mid-2024 by local press. UltraTech Cement now owns just under a 55% stake in the company and is its majority shareholder. Back in July 2024 UltraTech Cement said that The India Cements had a total production capacity of around 14.5Mt/yr of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Just under 13Mt/yr of this is based in the south of the country, mostly in Tamil Nadu, and 1.5Mt/yr is in Rajasthan.

The Nuvoco Vistas announcement follows a bidding process to acquire Vadraj Cement through a corporate insolvency process. Key parts of the deal include taking control of Vadraj Cement’s 6Mt/yr grinding plant in Surat and its 3.5Mt/yr integrated plant in Kutch. Both plants are in Gujarat. The agreement also includes limestone mining rights in the state and a captive jetty near the Kutch plant. However, the expression of interest for the insolvency proceedings, published in March 2024, revealed that the company’s operations have been suspended for five years. The grinding plant and the jetty were described as ‘partially constructed.’ Nuvoco Vistas has not disclosed how much it had bid to pay for the company, although it was keener in its press release to state that the transaction would see it become the fifth largest cement producer in India. It says that its cement production capacity will rise to 31Mt/yr; 19Mt/yr of this in the east, 6Mt/yr in the north and 6Mt/yr in the west. Synergies are also hoped for when the new assets are combined with Nuvoco Vistas’ current plants at Nimbol and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan.

Compared to the previous two news stories, the JK Lakshmi Cement merger plan is on a smaller scale but it follows the same trend. The cement producer presented its corporate restructuring plan to its shareholders in July 2024. It wants to merge JK Lakshmi Cement, its main cement company, with Udaipur Cement, Hidrive and Hansdeep. JK Lakshmi Cement runs two integrated cement plants at Sirohi, Rajasthan, and Durg, Chattisgarh respectively. It also operates what it calls ‘split location grinding’ plants at Kalol and Surat in Gujarat, at Jhamri in Haryana and at Cuttack in Odisha. Udaipur Cement operates one integrated plant in Rajasthan, Hidrive owns land next to the group’s Surat unit and Hansdeep is a preferred bidder for limestone resources in Nagaur, Rajasthan. The group’s clinker and cement production capacities are 10Mt/yr and 16.4Mt/yr. Its rationale is to gain synergies from production, distribution and logistics, to simplify the corporate structure, to improve efficiency and to raise shareholder value. That last one might be particularly useful for a cement producer looking to expand or sell in the future.

Further mergers and acquisitions are expected to happen in 2025 but at a slower rate than in 2024. Part of the dynamic so far has been that the highest demand is in the east and the highest capacity is in the south. Many of the deals announced in 2024 focused on markets in the south of the country. By contrast, analysts quoted in the Economic Times at the start of 2025 anticipate that new transactions might start to move to other regions. Obvious potential targets include Jaiprakash Associates and Heidelberg Materials. The first company became insolvent in 2024 and is likely to be sold off. Rumours of a potential purchase of the second company by Adani Group in the autumn hit the local press in October 2024. Doubtless there are other less visible possibilities too if the price is right. Read Global Cement Weekly in 2025 to find out what happens.

India: The India Cements has appointed Suresh Vasant Patil as its CEO. Krishnagopal Ladsaria has also been appointed as chief financial officer (CFO).

Patil joined the Aditya Birla group as a management trainee in 1988 and has over 35 years of professional experience. His most recent role was as the head of the Ready-Mix Concrete, Key Accounts and Building Product Division at UltraTech Cement. Patil trained as a civil engineer with qualifications from Karnataka University.

Ladsaria is a qualified chartered accountant. He has worked with companies including AF Ferguson, Grasim industries, Hindalco Industries and Century Enka. Recently he held the post of CFO at Century Enka, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla.

UltraTech Cement, part of Aditya Birla Group, took control of The India Cements in late-December 2024 when it completed its acquisition of shares. It now controls around a 55% stake in The India Cements.

India: Nuvoco Vistas has won a bidding process to acquire Vadraj Cement through a corporate insolvency resolution, according to The Economic Times. The acquisition includes Vadraj’s 6Mt/yr grinding unit in Surat and 3.5Mt/yr clinker capacity in Kutch, increasing Nuvoco Vista’s production capacity of 25Mt/yr by over 20%. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Nuvoco will acquire Vadraj Cement through its subsidiary Vanya Corporation, which was incorporated in November 2024. The company said that it plans to fund the acquisition without a significant rise in its consolidated debt levels. It plans to invest in Vadraj Cement over 15 months to bring in operational improvements before commencing production in the third quarter of the 2027 financial year. The acquisition awaits National Company Law Tribunal approval.

The company stated in its press release “With this transaction, Nuvoco's total cement production capacity is set to increase to approximately 31Mt/yr, distributed as 19Mt/yr in the East, 6Mt/yr in the North, and 6Mt/yr in the West, consolidating its position as the fifth-largest cement group in India.”

India: Sagar Cements has announced the commencement of operations of its 6MW solar power plant, located at its cement plant in Gudipadu village, Ananthapur District, Andhra Pradesh. The plant is part of the company's broader strategy to integrate renewable energy into its operations, according to Business Upturn.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement will merge three of its subsidiaries, Udaipur Cement Works, Hansdeep Industries and Trading, and Hidrive Developers and Industries, into its operations. Under the scheme of amalgamation, Udaipur Cement Works’ shareholders will receive four JK Lakshmi Cement shares for every 100 shares held. The merger will ‘simplify the group structure’, making ‘one combined entity focused in the business of cement and cement products’, according to The Business Standard.

India: UltraTech Cement has acquired an 8.69% stake in Star Cement for US$99m, at US$2.74/share. According to The Hindu Businessline, this minority stake acquisition could lead to UltraTech Cement eventually buying out Star Cement entirely, similar to its previous acquisition of India Cements on 20 December 2024.

India: Ramco Cements has commissioned an additional 2MW waste heat recovery turbine at its Alathiyur cement plant, doubling the facility's waste heat power capacity to 4MW. The company's total waste heat power capacity has now increased to 45.15MW, as stated in a regulatory filing. According to its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2024, Ramco Cements aims to meet about 45% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030. According to Energetica India, the company has also reduced its reliance on fossil fuels by using wind energy and rooftop solar panels.

India: AVG Logistics announced that it has successfully secured an order worth US$10.5m from a cement manufacturing company, marking a significant milestone in the company's expansion strategy. Under this contract, the company will leverage its expertise in managing complex logistics networks to provide tailored solutions. The company plans to address the unique challenges of the cement supply chain, from raw material transportation to finished product delivery.