Displaying items by tag: India

India: Wonder Cement Limited is planning to expand the capacity of its cement plant at Tehsil Nimbahera in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. The company has placed an order with Gebr. Pfeiffer for raw meals and coal mills.

India: Sagar Cements is planning to acquire BMM Cements, which has a 1Mt/yr cement factory and a 25MW captive power plant in Andhra Pradesh. Sagar intends to use the US$70.5m it has raised by selling a 47% stake in France's Vicat for the acquisition.

India: Teja Cement is planning a 3Mt/yr limestone mining project in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh. The limestone will be used for its integrated cement plant, which will be built in the same location. Environmental clearance has been received. The mining project is expected to commence after completion of the civil works of the cement and clinker projects.

India: The Tamil Nadu government has announced the 'Amma Cement Scheme,' under which it will procure cement from private manufacturers with the intention of re-selling at a set price in the event of a possible future price increase.

J Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu's chief minister, said that she had recently discussed the situation regarding production of cement from the state and supply from outside with officials. Tamil Nadu consumes 1.7 – 1.8Mt/month of cement. Some 400,000 – 450,000t is supplied by Andhra Pradesh, where prices have recently risen substantially. As such, Tamil Nadu has reduced its purchases from Andhra Pradesh to 150,000 – 300,000t/month. However, Tamil Nadu's cement producers have risen their own prices as demand grows.

The Amma Cement Scheme was created in response. The Tamil Nadu government will purchase 200,000t/month of cement from private manufacturers and re-sell it through local distributors. Beneficiaries are eligible for a maximum of 750 bags and the cement could be bought by submitting a government-approved building plan or aroad plan. Those who want to buy cement for repair and renovation are eligible for 10 - 100 bags. Tamil Nadu Cement Corporation will be the nodal agency and the scheme will be implemented by Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation and Rural Development Department.

India: JSW Cement Ltd plans to switch completely to the production of Portland slag cement (PSC), according to its CEO, Anil Kumar Pillai. According to Pillai, slag cement is ideally suited to both infrastructure projects and housing construction.

"We have 6Mt/yr of cement production capacity and will be producing only this variety of cement," said Pillai. The price of PSC is almost the same as the price of ordinary Portland cement. JSW Cement expects a massive increase in demand for slag cement in view of the formation of the new Central Indian government and new governments in some States, with increased focus on infrastructural projects.

"The Andhra Pradesh government has issued an order mandating the use of only Portland slag cement in all government constructions,'' said Pillai. He added that Portland slag cement is very popular outside India, accounting for more than 90% of total cement production in some countries. However, in India, out of total 360Mt/yr cement produced, it accounts for just 7%.

India: On 24 September 2014 India's Supreme Court cancelled all but four of the 218 coal blocks that have been allocated since 1993.

"We are relieved that the uncertainty is over, but now where do the cement and power plants attached to these mines get coal from?" asked Sushil Maroo, a director of Essar Energy and CEO of Essar Power. "What happens to the expenses already incurred? The government needs to give clarity on the modus operandi." The company stands to lose three coal blocks.

"This move will have an extremely negative impact on cement, steel and power companies as an issue that is almost 21 years old is now being addressed," said Issac George, CFO at GVK Power & Infrastructure. "A lot of investments have gone into these blocks, which will now be impacted. Most companies will have no option but to bid in the new round of auctions as one cannot depend on imported coal."

Coal-based projects represent about 59% of India's total installed power generation capacity. Apart from the cancellation, operational mines will have to pay a penalty of US$4.79 for every tonne of coal extracted since they started.

Coal India is set to take over the mines. In 2013 - 2014 Coal India produced 462Mt of coal, missing a target of 482Mt. The coal ministry anticipates that local supplies will fall by as much as 185Mt short of the country's projected demand of 950Mt in 2016 - 2017. The gap could widen if the cancelled mines fail to produce the projected volumes of coal.

India: The India Cements Ltd (ICL) has decided to hive off Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a cricket team owned by it and run as a division of the company, into a wholly-owned subsidiary. Chennai Super Kings is a BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and IPL (Indian Premier League) Franchise Twenty20 Cricket Tournament Team.

"We propose to de-merge CSK division into a wholly-owned subsidiary of our company,'' said ICL. The de-merger proposal will be taken up for the consideration of the board at its ensuing meeting. CSK has given ICL a new brand image and a pan-India corporate identity.

The iconic stature of M S Dhoni, the skipper of CSK, has helped the company in its forays into news markets such as Rajasthan and Gujarat. Thanks to CSK, ICL has become a household name in India.

India: The board of directors of Sagar Cements Ltd (SCL) has approved the company's move to acquire a 100% stake in BMM Cements Ltd, which owns a 1Mt/yr capacity cement plant and other assets in Andhra Pradesh. The proposed acquisition will take SCL group's total cement capacity to 3.75Mt/yr from the existing capacity of 2.75Mt/yr.

BMM has an enterprise value of US$88.4m, 155Mt of limestone reserves and a 25MW captive power plant. The deal size is currently unknown, although SCL will take over BMM's debt.
"The proposed acquisition of BMM Cements comes at an opportune time wherein the demand environment and pricing in our region of operations looks encouraging," said Srikanth Reddy, executive director of SCL. "The two companies are wholly complementary geographically, with considerable potential for synergies."

India: Star Ferro and Cement has announced that the board of directors has appointed Sanjay Kumar Gupta as company CEO and Dilip Kumar Agarwal as company CFO, both with effect from 20 September 2014.

India: Swiss, Indian and Cuban researchers have come together to develop limestone calcined clay cement (LC3), which can help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of cement by almost 30%.

"The LC3 project is an example of scientific and technical collaboration between Switzerland and India. The innovative cement production process on which these institutions are working is of great economic and environmental significance," said Switzerland Ambassador to India Linus von Castelmur.

The LC3 is a synergetic hydration of clinker, calcined clay and crushed limestone to achieve the performance required from commercial cements, with clinker factors as low as 0.40. It also costs less than traditional types of cement.

"The testing and application phase is over, now it has to pass through standardisation committee before it is accepted by the industries. The research that has been done will not be patent protected but available to everyone," said Castelmur.