Displaying items by tag: India

India: Anjani Portland Cement has appointed Rajesh Kumar Dhoot as its chief financial officer. He succeeds RS Ramanjaneyulu following his resignation. Dhoot is a chartered accountant with over 25 years of professional experience in the cement, sugar, pipe and textile sectors. He has worked in the cement industry for over 15 years, most recently with Chettinad Cement since 2014. Prior to this he held positions with UltraTech Cement from 2006 to 2014.

Bangladesh/India: The completion of an upgrade project to Chhatak Cement’s plant has been thrown into doubt due to uncertainty about securing limestone from India. The plant still needs to build a new 17km ropeway conveyor and this has been delayed due to failure to obtain permission on the Indian side of the border, according to the Daily Star newspaper. It is also facing problems procuring limestone in India due to on-going legal proceedings on environmental grounds between exporters in Meghalaya and the government. The Supreme Court of India granted permission for exports in 2022 but the case is still pending. In addition, plans to install a gas line from Sylhet to the plant has not started yet either.

The state-owned cement producer is run by the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). It originally announced in 2016 that it was spending over US$100m to build a new 1500t/day dry production line at the plant to replace an old wet production line. Although the old line originally had a production capacity of 233,000t/yr, it had fallen to around half of this. However, despite the construction of new silos and other equipment at the site, the unit has not been operational since early 2020. The new line was originally planned to start operation in 2020 but this was delayed until 2023. The BCIC has now proposed that completion of the project be extended to mid-2025.

India: The India Cements expects to commission the upgraded grinding unit at its Sankar Nagar cement plant in Tamil Nadu later in September 2023. Hindu BusinessLine News has reported that the producer is undertaking the upgrade in order to increase efficiency and lower the plant’s operating costs. The producer has hired US-based Boston Consulting Group to ascertain other possible improvements to three of its plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. At its Chilamkur cement plant in Andhra Pradesh, it is installing a waste heat recovery (WHR) system, scheduled for delivery in early 2024. FLSmidth and ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions are both reportedly conducting ‘detailed studies’ for possible future projects for The India Cements.

India: Ratings agency Crisil has forecast all-Indian cement consumption growth of 11% year-on-year to 440Mt during the current financial year, which ends on 31 March 2024. Crisil attributed this to a 51% year-on-year rise in infrastructure spending, to US$6.75bn throughout the year. Press Trust of India News has reported that infrastructure projects currently account for 30% of all cement consumption.

India: UltraTech Cement has bought a 29.8 hectare parcel of land in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram District from The India Cements. The Times of India newspaper has reported the value of the sale as US$8.44m. The India Cements’ vice chair and managing director Narayanaswami Srinivasan said that the company is looking for ways to monetise its assets amid on-going liquidity issues.

The India Cements’ sales of cement and clinker fell by 4.3% quarter-on-quarter to 2.66Mt in the three months to 30 June 2023 from 2.78Mt in the three months to 31 April 2023. It noted high fossil fuel prices and local overcapacity in the South Indian cement sector.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has concluded a deal to acquire a 21% stake in solar power plant engineering company Amplus Helios. Amplus Helios was founded as a special purpose vehicle for the construction of a 50MW captive solar power plant at JK Lakshmi Cement’s 1.7Mt/yr Durg cement plant in Chhattisgarh. The Free Press Journal has reported that the solar power plant will cost US$26m.

India: Ratings agency ICRA says that the cement industry in India will reach a renewable energy reliance of 40% across its operations in the 2025 financial year. The Hitavada newspaper has reported that this will involve the construction of 537MW-worth of new renewable power capacity. During the 2023 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2023, producers used 35% renewable energy. ICRA said that they can expect to make costs savings of US$240m/yr from 2025 through the scale-up of renewables, including solar, wind and waste heat recovery. This would correspond to a 15 – 18% reduction of estimated energy costs for the 2025 financial year.

Over the same two-year period, ICRA forecast blended cements to rise to 81% of cement sales in the 2025 financial year, from 78% in the 2023 financial year.

India: Nuvoco Vistas has launched Duraguard Microfibre Cement, a fibre reinforced cement. The cement’s clinker is 48-52% tricalcium silicate, with low tricalcium aluminate, and contains electrostatically precipitated dry fly ash. The producer says that it offers enhanced bonding, crack resistance, strength and durability and reduced permeability, as well as a smoother surface finish, compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Nuvoco Vistas first applied for a patent for the product in mid-2018.

Managing director Jayakumar Krishnaswamy said "We prioritise innovation. Our Construction Development and Innovation Centre (CDIC) is dedicated to creating sustainable and innovative products that meet the highest global standards. The awarded patent validates our unwavering commitment to innovation and keeps us in the forefront of pioneering advances in the cement industry, delivering exceptional quality and responsible business practices."

India: Adani Group subsidiary ACC has started commercial clinker production from the kiln of its new Ametha cement plant in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni District. BQ Prime News has reported that the kiln line has a clinker capacity of 3.3Mt/yr. It is capable of co-processing up to 15% alternative fuel (AF). The plant is also equipped with a 1Mt/yr grinding unit and a 16.3MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant.

The Ametha cement plant raises ACC’s installed cement and clinker capacity by 9.8% to 37Mt/yr.

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) faces a potential stumbling block to its planned acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement business for US$683m due to an on-going shareholder dispute at subsidiary Jaypee Bhilai Cement. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that a court has frozen Jaiprakash Associates’ 74% shareholding in the company, and ordered it not to create new third party rights. State-owned Steel Authority of India Limited holds the remaining 26% stake in the cement producer, which operates the 2.2Mt/yr Bhilai Jaypee grinding plant in Durg, Chhattisgarh.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) and Jaiprakash Associates concluded multiple separate agreements for the transfer of ownership of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement subsidiaries on 26 April 2023. Besides Jaypee Bhilai Cement, these include cement plant and limestone mine operator JP Super and grinding plant operator Jaiprakash Power Ventures.