Displaying items by tag: Bharathi Cement

India: Bharathi Cement has launched its BharathiUltraFast product for the market in Karnataka. The OPC 53 cement product promises faster pre-casting work, even in humid conditions, high early strength and a low heat of hydration to minimise crack formation.

The cement producer is a subsidiary of Vicat. The French company acquired a 51% stake in Bharathi Cement in 2010. It also owns Kalburgi Cement, formerly known as Vicat Sagar Cement. Bharathi Cement operates a 5Mt/yr integrated plant at Nallalingayapalli in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh and Kalburgi Cement runs a 2.75Mt/yr plant at Chatrasala in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka. Both plants market their products under the brand name ‘Bharathi Cement.’

India: Bharathi Cement has launched ‘Bharathi Ultrafast,’ a new multipurpose cement product. The new product as an Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) 53.3 grade cement, according to the United News of India agency. The subsidiary of France’s Vicat operates an 5Mt/yr integrated plant in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh and Vicat also owns a subsidiary, Kalburgi Cement, which runs a 2.75Mt/yr integrated plant in Kalaburagi, Karnataka. Both companies market their products under the Bharathi Cement brand.

India: Bharathi Cement plans to build new plants in Vizag and Mumbai. The new units are intended to meet market demand in the east and west of the country respectively, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The company hopes to raise its national market share to 5% from 4% at present with the new plants and from new products.

India: Sagar Cements, India Cements and Bharathi Cements have continued to defend public concerns over cement pricing due to economic trends beyond their control. In a press conference the producers blamed rising input costs, distribution costs, taxes and high margins by dealers, according to the Times of India newspaper. They added that the key demand drivers for the industry are residential house building and government projects.

S Srikanth Reddy, Executive Director of Sagar Cements forecast that cement demand will rise by 10 – 18% in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the next two to three years due to large government-run infrastructure projects. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are expected to rise by no more than 5% and Karnataka is expected to rise by 2 – 5%.

However, despite increases in the short term, the cement producers forecast problems for the industry in the south of the country, and in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in particular, due to production overcapacity as producers increased their installed capacity in anticipation of high demand. At present they say that producers are forced to run plants at 60% production utilisation rates with high volatility in price rates in a highly fragmented market with over 50 brands.

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has closed a case of alleged cartel activity among 11 cement companies due to a lack of evidence. The companies were named as Penna Cements, India Cements, Bharathi Cements, Dalmia (Bharat) Cements, Bhavya Cements, Zuari Cements, Ultratech Cements, Jaypee Cements, Ramco Cements, KCP Cements and My Home Cements.

India: Vicat Group has purchased Sagar Cements' stake in Vicat Sagar Cement for US$72m, subject to customary conditions precedents. After this transaction, Vicat will own 100% of Vicat Sagar Cement. Together with the share purchase, the two groups will untie all their ownership links.

Vicat Sagar Cement operates a cement plant in North Karnataka with a cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr. The plant includes its own captive power plant and access to the rail network. Vicat's India operations, comprising Bharathi Cement and Vicat Sagar Cement, include two cement plants with a total production capacity of 8Mt/yr.

In 2013 Vicat reported sales of US$210m in India, a rise of 12.7% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2014, sales in India rose by 27.2%.