Displaying items by tag: Dalmia Bharat

India: Dalmia Bharat has blamed the general election for its slow cement sales volumes growth in its first quarter. Its sales volumes of cement increased slightly to 4.55Mt. Its revenue grew by 7% year-on-year to US$365m in the first fiscal quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$340m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 27% to US$95.7m from US$75.2m.

The cement producer also said that its power and fuel costs per tonne had been negatively affected by its Kalyanpur plant operating at low capacity utilisation levels, partly due to a lack of coal. However, it noted that its raw material costs had been ‘moderated’ due to falling slag prices.

India: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai has approved Dalmia Bharat’s offer for debt-laden Murli Industries, subject to conditions intended to stop the company going into liquidation. The tribunal has given Dalmia Bharat until 12 July 2019 to decide if it wants to proceed, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The conditions include forcing the buyer to reinstate lapsed mining leases related to Murli Industries itself and removing clauses allowing Dalmia Bharat to modify or withdraw its plans at any stage. Dalmia Bharat bid around US$60m to buy Murli Industries’ 3Mt/yr cement plant in Maharashtra in late 2017.

India: Cement producers and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have launched the Indian Cement Sector SDG Roadmap. The planning framework uses the United Nation’s (UN) sustainable development goals (SDG) to set a series of goals in energy and climate, people and communities, the circular economy and natural resource management. It is intended to contribute to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This initiative has been convened by nine cement companies: ACC, Ambuja Cement, CRH, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), Heidelberg Cement, Shree Cement, Orient Cement, UltraTech Cement, Votorantim Cimentos. It is also partially funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Notable goals from the roadmap include promoting railway and waterway transport networks, improving transport safety, increasing the use of blended cements and encouraging the use of alternative fuels. The framework also plans to increase the number of women in the indsutry workforce at every level from entry to board.

India: Dalmia Seven, a joint venture between Dalmia Bharat Group and Austria’s Seven Refractories, has launched a new monolithic refractory production line at its Katni plant in Madhya Pradesh. Following the upgrade the unit has a production capacity of 45,000t/yr, according to the Press Trust of India. The new production line is intended to meeting growing demand nationally from the cement, steel and iron industries.

India: Dalmia Bharat’s income rose by 7% year-on-year to US$1.36bn in the year to 31 March 2019 from US$1.26bn in the same period in 2018. Its cement sales volumes grew by 10% to 18.7Mt from 17Mt. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 5% to US$278m from US$292m. The cement producer blamed mounting slag and petcoke costs for the growing production costs although it noted that the prices had started to ‘soften’ in the most recent quarter.

India: The Supreme Court has dismissed a request by Rajputana Properties, a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat, to review to decision to dismiss a plea challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) order allowing UltraTech Cement to acquire Binani Cement, according to the Financial Express newspaper. UltraTech Cement declared that Binani Cement was its subsidiary in November 2018 following a protracted legal battle with Dalmia Bharat. It changed its name to UltraTech Nathdwara Cement in December 2018.

India: Rajputana Properties, a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat, has requested that the Supreme Court consider a review of its decision to dismiss a plea challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) order allowing UltraTech Cement to acquire Binani Cement. The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the review request in early January 2019, according to the Financial Express newspaper. UltraTech Cement declared that Binani Cement was its subsidiary in November 2018 following a protracted legal battle with Dalmia Bharat. It changed its name to UltraTech Nathdwara Cement in December 2018.

India: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has penalised four cement producers in Tamil Nadu for failing to follow emission standards. Chettinad Cement’s plants at Puliyur and Karikkali, Tamil Nadu Cements’ plant at Alangulam, Dalmia Cements’ plant at Salmiapuram and ACC’s plant at Coimbatore have been accused by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for not complying with emission standards for particulate matter, SO_x and NO_x, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. ACC and Dalmia Cements have been fined around US$420/day since 31 August 2018, Chettinad Cement has been fined around US$5000 for a 12 day delay in compliance and Tamil Nadu Cements has been fined over US$23,000 for a delay of 55 days.

India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) has elected Mahendra Singhi, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), as its new president. He succeeds Shailendra Chouksey, according to the Press Trust of India. Singhi was previously the president of the Rajasthan Manufacturers Association. He also ran Shree Cement before leading Dalmia Bharat group.

India: A report by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) shows that the local cement sector is on track to meet its 2030 targets from the low carbon technology roadmap (LCTR). Direct CO₂ emission intensity fell by 5% in 2017 in the Indian cement sector compared to the 2010 baseline. CO₂ emission intensity, including onsite or captive power plant (CPP) power generation, was reduced by 6.8% compared to the 2010 baseline. The alternative fuels thermal substitution rate (TSR) increased by 5 times from 2010 to 2017. The sector consumed more than 1.2Mt of alternative fuels in 2017.

“Sustainability is a journey, not a destination. In our globalised and interconnected world, no one can solve alone the challenges ahead of us and the only opportunity to succeed is through collaborative partnerships, where the common interests of all are considered as more important than the sum of individual interests. This is exactly the spirit that has animated the CSI’s low carbon journey since 1999. This flagship project - with its members - has developed, implemented and shared collective solutions for measuring, reporting and improving its greenhouse gas reduction performance, year after year,” said Philippe Fonta, managing director CSI.

The CSI and the International Energy Agency (IEA) worked with nine local CSI member companies - ACC, Ambuja Cements, CRH, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), HeidelbergCement, Orient Cement, Shree Cement, UltraTech and Votorantim Cimentos - to carry out the status review on the sector’s performance trends, continuous implementation measures and notable achievements based on the milestones set in the 2013 LCTR. The Status Review Report was developed in consultation with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with support from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).

The findings of the report show that the direct CO₂ emission intensity was reduced by 32kgCO₂/t cement to 588kgCO₂/t cement in 2017 mainly due to an increased use of alternative fuel and blended cement production, coupled with a reduction in clinker replacement factor. However, the study also shows that significant efforts will be needed to meet the 2050 objectives of 40% reduction. The CO₂ emission intensity (including onsite or CPP power generation) has reduced by 49kgCO₂/t cement to 670kgCO₂/t cement in 2017 compared to the baseline year. The report has highlighted the adoption of waste heat recovery (WHR) systems by local cement plants.

The alternative fuels TSR increased to 3% in 2017 from 0.6% in 2010. More than 60 cement plants in India have reported continual usage of alternative fuels, with 24% of the total alternative fuels consumed as biomass. The share of blended cements used in the total quantity of cement manufactured increased to 73% in 2017 from 68% in 2010, largely due to the market’s growing acceptance of blended cement, emerging awareness of sustainability concepts, the availability of fly ash from thermal power plants and the use of advanced technology. The production of Pozzolana Portland Cement grew to 65% in 2017 from 61% in 2010. The share of Portland Slag Cement in cement production remained flat, at less than 10%, over the same period. The clinker factor reduced to 0.71 in 2017 from 0.74 in 2010.

In August 2018 the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) said it was taking over the work previously done by the CSI from 1 January 2019.