Displaying items by tag: India

India: Mahendra Singhi, the group chief executive officer (CEO) of Dalmia Cement, says that the company aims to be carbon negative by 2040. Singhi made the announcement at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, US, according to the Indo-Asian News Service. The cement producer is planning to increase its low-carbon product portfolio and use more ‘green’ fuels and raw materials in all of its 14 plants in India.

Dalmia Cement is the first Indian cement company to join RE 100 and it is committed to a target of 100% renewable electricity use. Singhi said that the major challenge is to convert the climate risks into business opportunities while sustaining business growth for the benefit of present as well as future stakeholders. Singhi was previously the Indian co-chair of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI).

Singhi said that Dalmia Group has been able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 526kg/t of cement on a group average and to 342kg/t in its eastern operations. According to the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) cement sector report in April 2018, Dalmia Bharat achieved the first rank in CDP's low carbon transition league.

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: The National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM), has appointed Mahendra Singhi, Group CEO of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd as its new Chairman. Mr Singhi has been a part of the board of Governors of NCCBM since 2013.

Commenting on the occasion, NCCBM Director General, Ashutosh Saxena, said, "We are fortunate to have someone of Mr Singhi’s calibre and experience to lead NCCBM. We are at a critical phase of development of our centres of excellence and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our research, strengthen our technology initiatives and take advantage of the opportunities ahead for sustainable development of cement and construction sector. Mahendra Singhi is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. Furthermore, as a member of NCCBM’s board of governors for the past five years, he has a deep understanding of its capabilities and potential."

A prominent figure in the Indian manufacturing industry, Mahendra Singhi has played a prominent role in the growth and development of the country’s cement sector over the last 40 years. Beginning in 1978 with Birla Group, he has held leadership positions with major cement companies: Shree Digvijay Cement, UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement, in various capacities. He led Shree Cement before his present appointment. He serves as co-chair of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) in India and Vice-President of Cement Manufacturer’s Association (CMA).

On his appointment Mahendra Singhi said, "I am really honoured to be trusted with the top job at NCCBM, after successfully completing five wonderful years of association with the council. It has been a tremendously rewarding journey over the years of my work in the cement industry. It would be my utmost endeavour to promote research and scientific work connected with waste to wealth, cement and building materials trade and industry and I am certain that together with NCCBM, we will make huge strides and carry out many ambitious projects to make impact on society worldwide."

India: UltraTech Cement has announced that it is joining EP100, a global leadership initiative that brings together a growing group of ‘energy-smart companies.’ The company said that becoming a member reaffirms UltraTech's commitment to driving sustainability across its value chain and accelerating business growth. By becoming a member of EP100, UltraTech has committed to double its energy productivity, a critical lever it to reduce the CO2 intensity of its operations. It will provide a strategic boost to UltraTech's low carbon growth target of reducing carbon intensity by 25% by 2021 against its 2005 baseline.

K K Maheshwari, Managing Director of UltraTech Cement said, “UltraTech Cement has always been at the forefront in adopting sustainable processes in its business operations. The company has some of the best performing plants on energy metrics across the world. As a responsible organisation, we realise the need for further substantial improvements in energy productivity. Our membership of EP100, we believe, will play a catalytic role in helping us accelerate towards doubling our energy productivity, which is a key strategic lever to achieve sustainable business growth.”

Helen Clarkson chief executive officer (CEO) of The Climate Group, said, ''It's hugely encouraging to see UltraTech, one of the leading cement producers globally, step up on energy efficiency. This is a win-win for emissions reduction and business growth. We need to see many more cement companies and other large energy users in hard-to-abate sectors follow UltraTech's lead.''

Founded by The Climate Group, EP100 constitutes companies that commit to using energy more productively. Energy productivity is a way of measuring energy efficiency that aligns directly with business growth and sustainable development goals.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has recently ramped up the production capacity of its grinding units in the state to cater to growing cement demand in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The cement maker operates two grinding units in Gujarat, one at Kalol near Ahmedabad and one in Surat.

"Our combined capacity at both these locations has been raised to about 2.5Mt/yr from 1.5Mt/yr earlier," said Shailendra Chouksey, whole-time director of JK Lakshmi Cement. "We have been expecting reasonable growth in the cement sector largely driven by various government initiatives, as well as focus on infrastructure projects.”

India: The KCP Ltd cement unit II at Ramakrishnapuram in Krishna district has bagged the ‘Excellent Energy Efficient Unit’ award from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The award is given to the cement plant with lowest specific electrical energy consumption for cement production compared to the national average and lowest specific heat consumption for clinker production as against the industrial average.

India: OCL India has held a stone-laying ceremony for its third integrated cement plant at its Rajgangpur site in Odisha. Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha state, attended the event along with the management of OCL India and its owners, Dalmia Cement (Bharat). The new unit will be known as Dalmia DSP.

The new plant will have a 2.25Mt/yr cement and 3Mt/yr clinker production capacity. Once it becomes operational it will increase production at the Rajgangpur site to 6.25Mt/yr of cement and 5.9Mt/yr of clinker.

The project has an investment of US$356m and it is expected to be commissioned by early 2020. As part of the project the cement producer also plans to build a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant with an investment of US$57m at Biswali near Cuttack.

India: UltraTech Cement has received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries. The company has given its approval for the share swap deal between the companies.

The transaction will provide UltraTech an opportunity to further strengthen its presence in the east and central markets, extending its footprint in the Western and Southern markets of India.

India: Prism Johnson, formerly known as Prism Cement, has received a letter of intent from the state government of Madhya Pradesh allocating it a mining lease for limestone. The agreement lasts 50 years for a site at Bairiah and Chormari villages and it includes approximately 77Mt of reserves.

India: ACC has appointed Ashish Prasad as its Chief Marketing Officer and Head of New Products & Services. Based in Mumbai, he will also be a member of the company's executive committee. Prasad will lead the brand building and marketing efforts for ACC's cement and concrete businesses. He will be responsible for growing the portfolio through the introduction of new products and solutions, as well as the design and implementation of new services to strengthen ACC's presence as a complete solution provider in the building materials space.

Prasad holds over 20 years of experience in brand management, sales, strategy and business development at companies including Pidilite Industries, Aditya Birla Group, Asian Paints and the Coca-Cola Company. In his last role as the chief operating officer (COO) of the construction chemicals business at Pidilite Industries, he was responsible for developing and growth of Dr Fixit and Roff brands.

He is a science graduate from Delhi University and holds a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.