India: Vicat Group, the French multinational cement producer, has announced the first line of commercial dispatch from its 2.75Mt/yr greenfield cement plant in Chatrasala village, Gulbarga district, Karnataka. Cement from the plant will be marketed under the brand name of Bharathi Cement and targeted for domestic consumption in north Andhra Pradesh, north Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Gulbarga plant is a joint-venture between Vicat and Sagar Cements. Vicat already has a joint venture, Bharathi Cement, in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, with a 5Mt/yr capacity which has been in operation since 2009. With the start of production at Gulbarga, Vicat's cement capacity in India has risen to 7.75Mt/yr, making it amongst the top cement producers in the south of India.

Vicat Group has close to 7400 employees working in three core divisions, cement, concrete and aggregates and other products and services, which generated consolidated sales of Euro2.27bn in 2011. The group operates in 11 countries: France, Switzerland, Italy, USA, Turkey, Egypt, Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Kazakhstan and India.