Displaying items by tag: India

India: Shree Cement plans to increase its cement production capacity to 20Mt/yr by 2015, up from 13.5Mt/yr in 2013.

Shree Cements will construct an integrated cement plant in Chhattisgarh for US$282m, a grinding plant in Bihar for US$82.9m and is increasing the cement production capacity at its plant in Rajasthan.

"The Chhattisgarh plant could be commissioned by April 2015, while the Bihar unit could be in operation as soon as May 2014. We are also on the verge of completing the expansion at Rajasthan," said H M Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement.

India: Switzerland-based Holcim, the parent company of ACC and Ambuja Cements, will continue to retain its separate brands in India after its merger with Lafarge.

The management of ACC announced that there would be no impact to the existing brands post-merger. "The merger will be beneficial for the Indian cement industry and is expected to bring positive changes for the company," said the chairman of ACC, N S Sekhsaria. "ACC brand will remain intact after the merger of Holcim and Lafarge."

The merger is expected to take up to 18 months and Holcim's future plans in India will be known only after the merger is completed. Sekhsaria added that while the brands will be retained, there may be some rationalisation of operations.

India: Energy management firm Schneider Electric has entered into a strategic partnership with industrial software developer Ramco Systems. The partnership will see Ramco's process optimisation software, OPTIMA, become a part of Schneider Electric's solutions for the cement industry. The partnership is intended to offer cement producers products that optimise production processes by reducing energy and emissions focusing on kiln and mill operation.

"The combined offer of process control, expert system and energy management allows the deployment of a unique optimisation strategy. This strategy will ensure optimum consumption of resources, best use of assets, maintain quality of product and stabilise processes while building an environmentally-sustainable business," said Mining, Minerals and Metals Solution President, Schneider Electric, Diego Areces.

OPTIMA is an process optimisation solution that has been designed to improve plant productivity and efficiency and leverages technologies like fuzzy logic, regression analysis and artificial intelligence techniques.

India: The Government of Kerala is planning to construct a cement terminal at Azhikkal port in the state. The vessel capacity is up to 10,000DWT (dead weight tonnage) with a 6 - 12m draft. ABG Group has been awarded the contract. The project is waiting for the final approval from the finance and planning board department and is planned for completion in five years from the date of approval.

India: Sanghi Industries Ltd (SIL) will invest US$41.8m in the next 18 months to increase its cement production capacity by 30%, to acquire ships and construct sea terminals.

Of the US$41.8m, SIL will use US$25.1m to acquire new ships and to construct new sea terminals and the remaining US$16.7m will be used to raise cement production capacity from 2.6Mt/yr to 3.5Mt/yr by the end of 2015.

"Currently, clinker production is higher than cement production at our plant. To correct the mismatch, we are investing US$16.7m to increase the grinding capacity. This will take 14 months before commissioning," said Alok Sanghi, SIL director. The debottlenecking will increase the grinding capacity by 30% of the Abdasa plant in Kutch.

SIL will acquire six vessels in the next five years for the transportation of its products into newer markets to reduce fuel costs and increase distribution capabilities. "We currently charter ships from market for distribution. We will acquire two vessels immediately and then two vessels every 18 months," added Sanghi.

SIL is also in the process of setting up terminals at Navlakhi port in Gujarat and at Mumbai port in Maharashtra. SIL exports 20% of its total production, mainly clinker to the Middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

SIL has invested over US$334m on the Abdasa plant that began production in 2003."We will have debts of US$75.1m by the end of the current financial year," added Sanghi.

India: The selection for the post of chief executive of the Cement Corporation of India (CCI), which is run by the state of New Dehli, has triggered controversy with regards to the preparation of the list of candidates and the criteria for selection, which was allegedly changed to include some names at the last minute. The CBI has taken note of complaints and is expected to order a probe soon.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) issued a list on 11 March 2014 with the names of 15 candidates who has been shortlisted for the interview. After about a week, the PESB released a list of 16 candidates, allegedly flouting its own guidelines on the upper limit on the number of candidates. In the second list an external candidate was added, with no explanation given. The candidate who was seventh on the first list was moved to number one position on the second list. The only internal candidate was allegedly downgraded to the second position on the second list after being put on top of the league on the first list.

India: Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd's (DCBL) cement production capacity will reach 20Mt/yr following its acquisition of Jaiprakash (JP) Associates' 74% stake in a joint venture with the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) for US$190m.

The board of DCBL has approved the acquisition of a 74% stake in Bokaro Jaypee Cement Ltd (BOJCL), which is a 74:26 joint venture between JP Associates and SAIL.

"With this acquisition, DCBL's current installed capacity (including subsidiaries and associates) will reach 20Mt/yr," said a DCBL spokesperson.

BOJCL has a 2.1Mt/yr cement unit at Bokaro in Jharkhand. The joint venture has a 30 year clinker supply arrangement with JP Associates and a slag supply arrangement for the same period with SAIL.

"The transaction was completed in a record time with excellent chemistry and cooperation between the professional teams of JP Associates and DCBL," said Mahendra Singhi, Group CEO of Cement, DCBL. "The total enterprise value is US$190m. The proposed acquisition would be funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals."

DCBL also holds a 47.3% stake in OCL India and is expanding capacity there. The company is also setting up a 2.5Mt/yt cement plant at Belgaum in Karnataka with an investment of US$222m.

India: Hundreds of farmers who will be affected by a JP Associates cement plant that is under construction in Mangal village, Himachal Pradesh, have staged a protest outside of Arki Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM).

The villagers staged their protest over allegations that the cement plant has ruined Mangal village, with JP Associates allegedly having dumped waste in the area. They claim that this has caused massive devastation due to the subsequent run-off from the waste into neighbouring fields.

The Himachal Pradesh high court has passed an order to remove the offending waste and asked the district administration to comply with the order. The villagers have alleged that the district administration failed to force JP Associates to remove the waste that was dumped in the villages. Protesters hold little hope that JP Associates will comply, as successive governments have seldom forced it to in the past.

India: Gebr. Pfeiffer SE and its Indian subsidiary Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) Pvt. Ltd have won a contract with Kolkata-based Emami Cement Ltd, which includes four of the latest design of the MVR mill and an MPS mill for coal grinding.

Emami Cement, an enterprise of the private Emami Group of companies, is a newcomer to the Indian cement industry. It operates in many fields of the consumer goods sector and the decision to set up a greenfield cement works in Chhattisgarh and various grinding plants in east India was preceded by a detailed analysis of the market situation.

The order covers an MVR 6000 R-6 roller mill with an installed drive power of 6700kW for raw material grinding. The mill is designed to yield 610t/hr of raw meal, with the difficult-to-grind material being ground to a fineness of 15% R 90µm.

Three mills of the type MVR 6000 C-6, which is Gebr. Pfeiffer's current top seller, will be used for cement grinding. Each of the mills features an installed drive power of 6700kW and will be capable of producing 335t/hr of ordinary portland cement (OPC). The grinding plants will also be designed to allow fly ash cement and granulated blast-furnace slag to be ground to a fineness of 3800cm²/g according to Blaine and 4000 cm²/g according to Blaine, respectively.

Emami Cement has selected an MPS 3350 BK vertical roller mill for fuel grinding. It will produce 80t/hr of hard coal ground to a fineness of 15% R 90µm.

While Gebr. Pfeiffer SE will supply the core components of the mills and the gear units from Europe, its Indian subsidiary, Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) Pvt. Ltd, will provide components such as housing of the mills and classifiers, the steel foundation parts as well as the interior parts of the classifiers. In addition, the Indian subsidiary will design the plant layout and advise the customer on the equipment.

This order brings the number of MVR mills sold to the Indian market to 10, increasing the number of MVR mills ordered worldwide to 16.

India: Reliance Cement's 2Mt/yr cement plant in Rae Bareli in the state of Utter Pradesh has become operational. The company's aim is to capitalise on the huge demand-supply gap in the state, according to chief executive officer Arvind Pathak.

At present, the cement market in Utter Pradesh is estimated at around 26Mt/yr, while the total cement production in the state stands at about 16Mt/yr, leaving a 10Mt/yr shortfall. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are among the top cement consuming states in India. Pathak said the cement market was expected to grow by 6%/yr in the near future and that Reliance Cement was well positioned and equipped to fulfil the gap in demand and supply.

The company has invested about US$82.2m in the Rae Bareli plant, which will also consume about 600,000t/yr of fly ash. Reliance Cement's subsidiary, Reliance Power, which runs a 1200MW thermal power plant in Shahjahanpur district, will transport fly ash generated from its unit to the cement plant for consumption. "We aim to become among the top-three cement companies in India with total capacity of 50Mt/yr," Pathak added.

The company is also developing two 5Mt/yr capacity cement plants at Maihar, Madhya Pradesh and Yavatmal, Maharashtra.