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India: It has been reported that the Adhunik Cement factory in Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya State has been working without clearance from the Ministry of Forests and Environment ever since its inception in 2008. Not only is the plant working without clearance, there have been serious violations of the environment, according to local media.

In a report sent to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, dated 18 January 2013, the then scientist who was appointed by the ministry to check into the clearance, S C Katiyar, found major violations within the plant and passed the information to the Central Ministry. The project consisted of a 20MW captive power plant and a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant. Even though the report was submitted to the Ministry in 2013, the plant is still in operation.

"We believe that none of the cement plants have valid clearances from the Environment and Forest Department," said Agnes Kharshiing, the president of the Civil Society Women's Organisation (CSWO). "They have been flouting rules and destroying the place without any care for the region. This is a serious violation and shows what we have been hinting at – that the plants are not cleared for operation. The scientist has made a fair report and our Pollution Board is also violating norms when they did not close down these cement plants with major violations."

The CSWO has demanded the immediate closure of all the cement plants of the region and a proper check to be done on the validity of their papers before operations are allowed to continue. Kharshiing also alleged that "The government has been working hand in glove with them and is now even trying to provide them land for reforestation. This is not fair and is making life for the people of the region difficult. We demand that the clearance certificates be checked for all of the companies working in Jaintia Hills, because we believe none of them are working through legal norms."

Update - 11 June 2014: Adhunik Cement have responded to the original source of this news story in the Meghalaya Times and asked Global Cement to publish it.

10 June 2014

Subject: Article in your publication

Dear sir,

This is in context of an article published in the Meghalaya Times datelined Tura, June 7th 2014 titled 'Adhunik Cement Factory Working Without Environmental Clearance'. The article alleges that the factory has "been working without environmental clearance... ever since its inception". And "...there have been serious violations of the environment..."

1. We would like to submit that the Adhunik Cement factory at Jaintia Hills has been in compliance of all clearances. It was granted environmental clearance vide Environment Clearance Letter No. J-110111/109/2007-IA-II (I) dated June 19th 2008.

2. The MoEFF nominee referred to in the article, Dr SC Katiyar had pointed out certain areas of improvement, these have been met. Regular reports on compliance status are being formally submitted, per protocol to the concerned authorities including the MoEF.

We are a mature, responsible corporate citizen, sensitive to the environment. We adhere to best-in-class business practices and high thresholds of environmental and safety standards. We are disappointed that a publication of your stature did no consider checking out perspective. In the interest of factual accuracy to present a correct perspective, we required you to publish this letter.

Yours sincerely,

LN Mishara
Adhunik Cement Limited

India: According to the latest data from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), the utilisation of hazardous waste as an alternative fuel and raw material (AFR) in cement kilns has increased by a factor of 35 since 2009 – 2010 from 15,693t/yr to 543,569t/yr in 2013 - 2014.

This follows the GPCB's measures to strike a balance between the disposal of toxic hazardous wastes, environmental protection and economic interests. Safe disposal of toxic hazardous waste posed a major challenge before the state pollution regulator took up disposal through cement kilns under controlled conditions.

In 2011 Gujarat State generated 109Bnt/yr of incinerable waste, 1107Bnt/yr of land-fillable waste and 577Bnt/yr of recyclable hazardous waste. These included plastic waste, spent carbon, tar, mixed waste liquid, pharmaceutical waste, tyre chips, agricultural waste, solid waste, chemical gypsum, iron sludge, copper slag and fly ash.

The GPCB encouraged major industrial clusters and cement plants to provide waste collection centres and pre-processing facilities for hazardous waste for co-processing. "It is a recovery of energy and material from waste," said Hardik Shah, member secretary of the GPCB. "The challenging task was to convince the top management of cement plants." The GPCB facilitated cement makers with access to its data on the waste generated in the State via Extended Green Node (XGN) software, which ensured the supply of suitable wastes.

"This involves some additional investment, but in the long run it repays as there are savings on fuel costs," said an Ambuja Cement spokesperson. Ambuja has invested US$16.7m to set up a pre-processing facility of solid/semi-solid waste at its Ambujanagar plant in Junagadh District, Gujarat State.

Similarly, Sanghi Industries is in the trial phase for using hazardous waste. "From a legal standpoint, we need to get clearance from the GPCB for co-processing any new waste material in our plant," said Alok Sanghi, director of Sanghi. "We have submitted the results of the trials conducted and are awaiting clearance from them." Sanghi has been doing trials for last 18 months.

"The use of alternative fuel in Indian cement industries has been limited," said GPCB's Shah. "The thermal substitution rate (TSR) in the cement industry is less than 1% in India as against 10% in Japan and 40% in European nations. The GPCB has set a target of three years to achieve a TSR of 10% by using AFR."

India: According to local media, the Jammu and Kashmir State government has ordered an enquiry of the managing director of JK Cement regarding the alleged embezzlement in the purchase of polypropylene bags. According to the allegations, US$156,857 was to be shared by JK Cement's managing director and a few of his trusted lieutenants.

JK Cement had placed an order to purchase cement bags from a factory outside of the state at exorbitant rates. The company had earlier ordered 3 million bags at a price of US$0.156/bag (US$469,052 total), of which 33% was to be supplied by Gopinath Enterprises Ahmedabad. The remaining supply was yet to be determined. The managing director of JK Cement later allegedly approved the purchase of 4 million bags from Bihar Raffia at a rate of US$0.18/bag (US$720,000 total). The former supplier, Gopinath Enterprises, was asked to stop the supply.

India: The Himachal Pradesh state government has cancelled the 2Mt/yr cement plant project that was allotted to Jaiprakash Associates in Chamba District. The state cabinet cancelled the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project in February 2014. Another of Jaiprakash Associates' cement plants in Solan District is under investigation for overproduction.

The Chamba District cement plant was proposed at an estimated cost of US$136m near the Baroh-Sindh limestone deposits in Churah Tehsil, Chamba District. When the MoU was signed on 1 February 2007 it was claimed that the plant would provide direct employment to over 1000 people and indirect jobs to over 5000.

Finding that many cement companies have failed to set up their projects, the state cabinet in May 2013 decided to issue notices to Harish Cements, Lafarge India, India Cements and Jaiprakash Associates for failing to set up cement plants, despite the government having granted approvals. Following the cabinet decision the industries department issued show-cause notices to the companies. The industries department examined the replies and forwarded them to the state government. Finding the reply submitted by Jaiprakash Associates unsatisfactory, the cabinet cancelled the MoU in February 2014.

Industries minister Mukesh Agnihotri confirmed the cancellation of the proposed Jaiprakash Associates cement plant. Some other cement companies in Himachal Pradesh State are also under investigation due to reports of violations. The minister said that Jaiprakash Associates' cement plant in Solan District was allowed to produce 2.05Mt/yr of cement but that the company was actually producing 3.46Mt/yr.

"All these years, the company was making additional production without having the requisite permission," said Agnihotri. "When we started investigations the company approached the government seeking permission to regularise additional production." Agnihotri said that the order for an energy audit of Jaiprakash Associates has already been issued and that strict action would be initiated if violations are found on the part of the company.

India: Jaiprakash Associates' profit after tax fell by 18.7% year-on-year to US$17.1m in the quarter that ended in March 2014 on account of higher interest costs and lower revenues.

Net sales declined by 11.9% to US$578m during the January - March 2014 quarter, down from US$657m in the same quarter of 2013. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2.3% year-on-year to US$148m. Interest costs for the quarter jumped by 38% year-on-year to US$128m, while cost overheads such as direct construction costs fell by 25% and other expenditures fell by 11%. Revenue from its cement division, which contributes 45% to the company's total revenue, increased by 0.5% year-on-year to US$280m. However, earnings before interest and cost margin plunged by 700 basis points to 6.7%.

India: Mangalam Cement Ltd has announced that the company's new 1.25Mt/yr cement mill at Kota District, Rajasthan, which had been under a trial run, started commercial production on 28 May 2014. The cement plant's total capacity has increased from 2.0Mt/yr to 3.25Mt/yr.

India: India Cements plans to merge with its subsidiary, Trinetra Cements. N Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements, said that the company wanted to consolidate cement operations. The merger will also include Trishul Concrete Products and involve selling land near its plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

"We will get the benefit of profitability of Trinetra and improve the performance of India Cements," said Srinivasan. He adding that, following the merger, the total cement production capacity of India Cements would rise to 15.8Mt/yr.

For its first quarterly results in 2014 India Cements reported a net loss of US$5.19m. The company has also been under a corporate debt-restructuring scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements has a production capacity of 15.5Mt/yr. It has seven integrated cement plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, one in Rajasthan (through Trinetra Cements) and two grinding units, one each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

India: HeidelbergCement India's net profits rose to US$8.12m during the quarter that ended in March 2014, compared with US$373,296 of profit during the same period of 2013. Net sales were US$67.0m during the quarter, up by 7.6% year-on-year from US$62.3m.

India: India Cements has incurred a net loss of US$5.19m for the quarter that ended in March 2014, driven by capacity overhang and weak demand. The company had earned a net profit of US$6.86m in the same period of 2013.

Net sales fell to US$183m from US$202m during the same period of 2013, while expenses dipped marginally to US$183m."Oversupply pressure continues, coupled with poor demand in south India," said India Cement's managing director N Srinivasan. Cement demand in south India was flat during the period. Consequently the company ran its southern cement plants at 70% of their rated capacity. Its Rajasthan plant produced cement at 98% of its rated capacity.

The company has been under a corporate debt-restructuring (CDR) scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements also incurred a US$7.97m loss due to foreign exchange fluctuations.

"With a new government in place we expect a turnaround in demand in the second half of this fiscal year," Srinivasan said.

India: Reliance Cement Company, part of the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infrastructure, is looking at a turnover of around US$341m in the current fiscal year on the back of capacity expansion and entry into West Bengal. The company has made a foray into West Bengal, a market with 14Mt/yr of cement demand and the potential to grow by 8%/yr in the coming years.

"We are targeting cement sales of 3.5Mt and a revenue of US$307 - 341m in fiscal 2015," said Reliance Cement Director & CMO Atul Desai. "We hope to cover the entire West Bengal market in fiscal 2015, which is expanding by 8%/yr. We expect to sell 0.6 - 0.7Mt of cement in the state in fiscal 2015."

"West Bengal is one of the largest cement-consuming states in eastern India with a total consumption of around 14Mt/yr," said Reliance Cement Head (East) Deepak Ranjan. He added that Reliance Cement hopes to garner a healthy market share in the region.

Reliance Cement also plans to set up a 2.1Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Raghunathpur, West Bengal. Desai said that the company has 0.40km2 of land and is in the process of getting regulatory clearances for the project.

Reliance Cement has also lined up cement plants in various locations to increase capacity and is in various stages of acquiring limestone mining leases. "The group aims to expand its cement production capacity to 50Mt/yr over the next couple of years," he said.