Displaying items by tag: India

India: Ramco Group subsidiary Ramco Cements has invested US$0.7m in a 46% share in Lynks Logistics. The company will serve the 17Mt/yr-installed capacity producer’s logistics and distribution needs for all of India.

India: Having announced that it will not participate in bidding for Emami Cement, Shree Cement has announced a planned increase to its production capacity of at least 13.1Mt/yr to 55.0Mt/yr or more by 28 February 2023 from 41.9Mt/yr. It would do this through as yet undisclosed upgrades worth a total of US$1.26bn. The Business Standard newspaper has suggested that the measure is aimed at taking on UltraTech, the expected winner in the auction for Emami Cement’s 5.6Mt/yr-capacity installed assets (under expansion to 8.7Mt/yr).

A source of additional capital for Shree Cement’s planned expansion will be a qualified institutional placement (QIP) through which it has raised US$337m. The company acknowledged that it might reach its target through acquisitions from other producers, for which it would not exceed US$80/t of capacity.

India: The Economic Times has reported a forecasted profit growth for UltraTech Cement of 122% to US$119m over the three months to 31 December 2019 from US$53.6m in the corresponding period of 2018. It explained the boom in terms of increased sales, which may have risen by 7% year-on-year to US$1.50bn from US$1.40bn, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) per tonne – up by 45% to US$15.8/t from US$10.9/t. It predicted volumes growth of 3% year-on-year, dragged down by UltraTech subsidiary Century Cement’s falling production.

India: A 20 year old man has been arrested in Nalanda, Bihar for allegedly creating a fake UltraTech Cement website. The individual reportedly took payment for cement and then ceased contact, leaving genuine UltraTech Cement representatives in the state with angry enquiries. UltraTech then reported the site to police.

Police have stated that the arrested man, Rohit Kumar Balram Prasad, has been charged under sections 482 (using false property mark), 483 (counterfeiting a property mark used by another), 419 (cheating by personation) among others of the IPC and the Information Technology Act. They added that further arrests are expected.

India: France-based Imerys has announced the acquisition of calcium silicate producer Hysil by its subsidiary Calderys Indian Refractories from CK Birla Group for Euro10.1m. SeeNews has reported that the expansion to Imerys’ Indian operations is aimed at securing lower prices for raw materials for use in high temperature insulation in various industries, especially the cement sector.

India: Mangalam Cement has completed the installation of a 5.15MW WHR plant at its 1.0Mt/yr Morak cement plant in Adityanagar, Rajasthan. Accord Fintech newspaper has reported that a further 5.85MW expansion to the power plant will be commissioned in early 2020.

India: Gebr. Pfeiffer has announced that it has received an order for one MVR 6000 C-6 roller mill for Chettinad Cement Corp. Pvt. Ltd.’s upcoming 2.0Mt/yr Vishakapatnam granulated blast-furnace slag (GBFS) and slag cement
Grinding plant in Andhra Pradesh. Gebr. Pfeiffer said the mill will grind slag and cement to a fineness of between 3000 and 3800 blaine at a rate of between 235t/hr and 340t/hr. It says the mill improves plant availability by the active redundancy of the grinding rollers, enabling mill operation with reduced rollers in the event of maintenance work or a malfunction.

Bangladesh: Producers exported US$5.03m-worth of cement and clinker from Bangladesh in the six months to 31 December 2019 - down by 13 from US$5.75m in the corresponding period of 2018 and 1.6% below the government’s target of US$5.11m. Arab News has reported that the recipients of Bangladeshi cement and clinker included India, Myanmar, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

India: Integrated cement and grinding plants expansions by companies including Dalmia Bharat, JK Cement and Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech of an additional 23Mt/yr are set to bring India’s total installed cement capacity to 508Mt/yr by the end of 2020. Business Standard newspaper has reported that steady prices year-on-year and ‘softening input costs’ have facilitated the expansions in spite of a ‘flattish trend in industry-wide volume growth.’

India: Dalmia Bharat has successfully lobbied the Sundargarh, Orisha district government to request the inclusion of the company’s proposed 446 acre expansion to its Lanjiberna limestone and dolomite mine in the agenda of a village meeting in Kukuda, in which public opinion and suggestions will be recorded. The New India Express Newspaper has reported that, due to the special status of Kukuda as a Scheduled Tribal area, the village meeting forms a necessary preliminary step prior to district government permission of planned works. In October 2018, villagers in nearby Jhagarpur successfully blocked construction of Dalmia Bharat’s proposed Industrial Training Institute. The Lanjiberna mine will serve Dalmia Bharat’s 2.3Mt/yr integrated Rajgangpur plant, which was completed in 2019 at a cost of US$281m and awaits commissioning.