Displaying items by tag: UltraTech Cement

India: UltraTech Cement has appointed K K Maheshwari as Managing Director and Additional Director for a period of four years with effect from 1 April 2016. Maheshwari is a chartered accountant with over 38 years of experience.

The post was previously held by O P Puranmalka, who will cease to be the company's Managing Director on 31 March 2016, but will continue as a Non-executive Director from 1 April 2016.

India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal has set aside a US$945m penalty imposed on 11 cement firms by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on accusations of cartel behaviour and asked the fair trade regulator to resubmit the case. The Tribunal also allowed the cement manufacturers to withdraw the 10% penalty amount already deposited with the CCI, according to the Press Trust of India.

The judgement follows appeals filed by the cement firms and their industry body, the Cement Manufacturers Association, against the two CCI orders passed in June - July 2012. The cement companies included ACC, Ambuja Cements, Binani Cements, Century Textiles Ltd, India Cements, JK Cements, Lafarge India, Madras Cements, Ultratech, JP Associates and Shree Cements.

The CCI had passed the orders after an investigation into complaints, including from Builders Association of India (BAI), against alleged price collaboration between cement firms.

The orders were later challenged at the Competition Appellate Tribunal, which ordered that 'the impugned order is set aside and the matter is remitted to the CCI for fresh adjudication of the issues relating to alleged violation" of the relevant sections of the Competition Act.'

India: UltraTech Cement is reportedly in advanced discussions with Reliance Infrastructure on the sale of its cement units.

Reliance Infrastructure put up its cement units for sale in October 2015 to reduce its US$3.86bn debt. The company earned a revenue of US$56.7m from its 5.5Mt/yr of operational capacity in July - September 2015. Reliance Infrastructure's cement units are expected to fetch an enterprise valuation of US$749 - 824m.

India: With one more cement terminal set to commence operations in November 2015 on the port premises and two more in the pipeline, Kochi, Kerala is set to emerge as a major cement hub in south India.

Cochin Port Trust sources said that the number of cement terminals at the port would go up to three with the Zuari Cement terminal set to commence operations in November 2015. This is in addition to the UltraTech and Ambuja cement terminals in operation already. Penna Cement has begun construction works and decks have been cleared for Malabar Cements to begin work on its proposed terminal. All of the terminals, excluding one, would be capable of raising their throughput to 1Mt over the years, according to Port Trust.

These terminals will not only increase income for the financially-troubled Cochin Port Trust, but also generate substantial employment involving evacuation of the cargo out of Kochi to various parts of Kerala. For every 10,000t of cement imported, the Port Trust will earn up to US$230,714/yr in both vessel and cargo related charges.

Figures show that cement throughput at the Kochi port has grown substantially between 2010 - 2011 and 2014 - 2015. Cement throughput was 2.59Mt during 2010 - 2011. It has gone up to 7.03Mt during the 2014 - 2015 financial year. Cement throughput almost doubled from 3.11Mt during 2012 - 2013 to 6.04Mt during 2013 - 2014.

India: Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech Cement has reported 3% year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit at US$65.8m for the quarter that ended on 30 September 2015, helped by increased sales and better operating margins.

UltraTech Cement's total income rose by 4% to US$927m in the quarter. Its domestic cement sales volume increased by 5% year-on-year. While operating costs were lower due to lower energy costs, the benefit was partially offset due to the District Mineral Foundation levy in terms of provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development) Amendment Act, 2015.

UltraTech said that its capital expenditure programme is on track. During the quarter, it commissioned a 1.6Mt/yr grinding plant in Jhajjar, Haryana and a 1.6Mt/yr grinding plant in Dankuni, West Bengal. "As a result, the cement capacity is enhanced to 64.7Mt/yr in India. The company also commissioned a 2Mt/yr bulk terminal on outskirts of Pune. With the further commissioning of a 5MW waste heat recovery system in Rawan, Chhattisgarh, power generation from waste heat recovery is augmented to 53MW," said the company in a statement.

UltraTech Cement expects cement demand to pick up in the October 2015 – March 2016 period. "With the governments' focus on infrastructure development, housing sector, smart cities and roads, among others, UltraTech Cement is well positioned across the country to meet the expected rise in demand and participate in the next phase of growth in the country," said UltraTech Cement.

India: Overseas investments or the outward foreign direct investment by Indian companies more than halved to US$1.24bn in September 2015, according to media reports. This compared to US$3.12bn in September 2014. In August 2015, the outward foreign direct investment by Indian companies stood at US$2.19bn.

Out of the total US$1.24bn invested abroad, some US$137m was invested in equity, US$366m through loans and US$738m in the form of issue of guarantee. Major investors overseas during the month included Ultratech Cement in the Middle East (US$234m), Tata Power in Singapore (US$90m) and Tata Communications in Singapore (US$67.9m).

India: The Madhav Nagar police raided an industrial unit manufacturing fake cement in the industrial area of Dewas Road, Maharashtra and arrested five people working in the unit on 3 October 2015. The accused allegedly filled empty UltraTech Cement bags with ACC cement and then passed it off on the market as original.

The police also seized hundreds of sacks of fake cement kept in the cement plant, a truck and equipment used in the process. According to the Indian National Press Bombay, the accused collected expired cement bags kept in storehouses and thereafter mixed spurious substances with it, then repackaged the bags with logos of a reputed cement company. They then sold it at a reduced price to the public and wholesalers. The police also found thousands of empty sacks of leading cement companies inside the factory premises.

India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned a 1.6Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Jhajjar, Haryana.

India: Aditya Birla's UltraTech Cement has got the Environment Ministry's clearance to increase the capacity of its Awarpur plant in Maharasthra, which would entail an investment of US$37.7m.

The company plans to increase its clinker capacity to 4.5Mt/yr from 3.3Mt/yr and to increase its cement capacity from 4.48Mt/yr to 6Mt/yr.

"Based on the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Environment Ministry recommendation, the Environment Ministry granted the final clearance subject to certain conditions. The EC was issued to the company on 11 September 2015," said a senior Environment Ministry official.

The company has been asked to comply with specific conditions like developing green belt over 33% of the total project area, installing air monitoring devices to monitor air emission and continuous stack monitoring of facilities to monitor gaseous emissions, among others. The company has also been asked to earmark at least 5% of the total cost of the project towards enterprise social commitment and prepare a detailed corporate social responsibility (CSR) plan for every five years for the existing expansion project.

UltraTech Cement has informed the Ministry that the proposed expansion will be carried out within the existing plant area. The additional power required for the proposed expansion will be 5.1MW.

India: UltraTech Cement Ltd has reported that the tenure of S Rajgopal, Independent Director of the company, ended upon the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the company held on 28 August 2015.