Displaying items by tag: India

India: The Jaipur Heritage Municipal Corporation has successfully converted around 6000kg of seized single-use plastic into a revenue-generating resource by selling it to cement plants. The plastic was collected over the past three to four months from local markets as part of an anti-plastic campaign, according to the Press Trust of India.

Commissioner Abhishek Surana said "Disposal of the seized single-use plastic was a major issue. We assessed that a supply chain exists in the system and installed refuse derived fuel machines at dumping yards to shred the plastic and sell it to cement manufacturing plants. It has also started generating revenue for the corporation."

India: UltraTech Cement says that it will acquire a 23% stake in The India Cements. The Press Trust of India has reported the value of the deal as US$226m. The transaction is scheduled for completion by the end of July 2024.

India: Shree Cement says that it has reached 1GW captive power capacity across its plants, after commissioning a new 19.5MW solar power plant at a facility in Andhra Pradesh. Renewables account for 499MW (50%) of the total. Shree Cement says that its investments in renewables to date total US$479m. NBM & CW News has reported that the company has current planned new investments worth US$120m in renewables. This will cover 132MW-worth of solar, 36MW of wind and 34MW of waste heat recovery power capacity.

India: Adani Group plans to invest US$15.7bn in the current, 2025 financial year. The investments will support Adani Group’s expansion and diversification across various sectors, including cement. The group plans to reach 140Mt/yr in cement production capacity by the end of the 2028 financial year. The 2025 financial year will end on 31 March 2025.

India: JK Cement has inaugurated its 2Mt/yr Prayagraj grinding plant in Uttar Pradesh. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the plant raises JK Cement’s cement production capacity by 9% to 24Mt/yr.

India: Ambuja Cements and Ravi Sanghi plan to launch an offer for sale of a stake in Sanghi Industries. The Times of India newspaper has reported that Ambuja Cements will offer 2.4% of shares and Ravi Sanghi will offer 1.2%, giving a total offer of 3.6%. Following the completion of the intended sale, the companies’ combined stake in Sanghi Industries will drop to 75%, in line with shareholding rules for promoters.

Adani Group’s subsidiary Ambuja Cements signed a deal this week to buy Penna Cement for US$1.25bn. The agreement adds 14Mt/yr of cement production capacity to the group with a focus in the south of India. The acquisition is a big step towards the group’s target of reaching a capacity of 140Mt/yr by 2028. Ajay Kapur, the head of Ambuja Cements, also singled out the advantage the company hopes to gain from taking control of Penna Cement’s terminals saying that they would “prove to be a gamechanger by giving access to the eastern and southern parts of peninsular India.” The move is expected to increase the group’s market share in India by 2%, and by 8% in South India.

Penna Cement operates four integrated plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with a capacity of 7Mt/yr. Two of these units also include waste heat recovery installations and one has a captive power plant. It runs two grinding plants in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra with a capacity of 3Mt/yr. Another integrated plant is being built at Jodhpur in Rajasthan and a grinding plant at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Finally, the company owns four bulk cement terminals at Kolkata, Gopalpur, Karaikal and Kochi in India, one at Colombo in Sri Lanka and it also owns a 25,000t cement carrier.

Adani Group’s march towards that target of 140Mt/yr by 2028 started off in mid-2022 when it purchased Ambuja Cements and ACC from Holcim. This gave it a starting capacity of 68Mt/yr in the cement sector. Various smaller additions followed including new plants at Ametha and Dahej and the acquisitions of Asian Cement and Concrete, MyHome Industries and Sanghi Industries. The latter company was the biggest of these purchases. Once the in-progress projects from Penna Cement are built, Adani Group should have a capacity of 93Mt/yr. Another 20Mt/yr is reportedly at various stages of execution. The remaining 27Mt/yr is described as being ‘blueprint ready.’

Generally, the local financial press has been in favour of the transaction agreeing with the geographic advantages of Adani Group increasing its presence in the southern states. The benefits of the high number of railway sidings at Penna Cement’s plants were also commented upon as a means for Ambuja Cements to reduce its costs per tonne of cement. The logistics benefit from the port terminals is also expected by Adani Group’s chief financial officer to reduce the group’s logistics costs with an impact expected within the next year. However, it has been reported that Penna Cement’s operating performance had been weaker in the last financial year due to low sales volumes, poor operational efficiency and high coal costs. A takeover by Adani Group could certainly fix the latter two issues. Yet, it has also been reported that competition in the cement markets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is up, due to a mismatch between supply and demand. So, improving Penna Cement’s capacity utilisation in these regions might be harder to solve than simply being absorbed into Adani Group.

India’s two largest cement producers both have plans in motion to mount up production capacity by the end of the decade in what has been dubbed ‘the battle of the billionaires.’ The market leader is UltraTech Cement and it has shown reluctance to cede ground to the cement newcomer Adani Group. The former company’s current target is to make it to just under 190Mt/yr by 2027. It said it had a capacity of 152Mt/yr in May 2024. It is ahead of Adani Group by this measure but there is still plenty of scope for surprises. Given the rivalry between the companies there is a regular stream of speculation about which of the smaller cement producers they might be about to buy at any given time. For example, in October 2023 HeidelbergCement India was rumoured to be courting offers from UltraTech Cement, Adani Group and JSW Cement. Last week, Adani Group was reportedly interested in buying either Saurashtra Cement, the cement business of Jaiprakash Associates, Vadraj Cement or… Penna Cement. Occasionally the rumours are true after all. UltraTech Cement remains in first place for now but the situation may change.

India: Christian Pfeiffer has appointed Krishna Mohan Gundapaneni as its Area Sales Manager for South East Asia.

Gundapaneni previously worked for FLSmidth in India from 2008 in a variety of sales roles starting as its Deputy General Manager - Project Sales. He became the equipment supplier’s Area Sales Manager - Pyro & Grinding - Capital Products at the start of 2024. Prior to working for FLSmidth he was the Deputy Manager – Marketing for Fives Cail KCP. He holds a bachelor of technology in mechanical engineering from the Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College and a master of business administration from Andhra University.

India: The newly re-elected Indian government has approved the construction of 20m new rural homes up to the end of the 2030 financial year on 31 March 2030. This will entail the construction of new units at a rate of 4m/yr. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that the government raised rural homebuilding subsidies by 67% to US$2400/home, and by 69% to US$2640 in hill country. It said that this is necessary due to a rise in the price of building materials.

India: A worker has died after being caught in a belt at Ultratech Cement’s Manawar cement plant in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar District on the morning of 17 June 2024. Local press reported that 30-year-old Tikam Singh succumbed to his injuries after becoming trapped in the equipment. The police have launched an investigation into the incident.