|
There is a clear upswing in the cement industry with fresh cement projects worth Rs 10,632 crore being announced in the current fiscal between April and October 2014. This indicates a quantum jump as compared with a year ago statistics, when cement projects worth Rs 3,563 crore were announced during the given period.
An interesting observation is that of the 25 cement projects announced in April-Oct 2014, seven projects worth Rs 5,222 crore were in the newly formed Andhra Pradesh.
V P Cements has announced plans to set up two cement units in YSR district of Andhra Pradesh. A 6.4 million tpa unit is proposed to be set up at Gundlakunta, with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore. The project will be implemented in two phases. V P Cements will set up another unit with a capacity of 4.8 million tpa at Chinna Komerla village with an investment of Rs 1,200 crore.
Chettinad Cement Corporation plans to expand the cement capacity at its Chincholi plant in Karnataka from 2.5 million tpa to 5.5 million tpa. The company is also setting up a portland cement unit with a capacity of 0.12 million tpa in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.
Rajasthan-based Shree Cement plans to set up a four million tpa cement unit in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh and another unit of three million tpa in Dhenkanal district of Odisha. The State-Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) in Odisha recently granted approval to the Rs 400 crore cement project.
Shree Cement’s 2.8 million tpa project in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh is scheduled for completion by March 2015. The Bihar cabinet has also approved the company’s proposal to set up a Rs 337 crore cement plant in Aurangabad district of the state.
Ambuja Cements will be expanding the capacity at its Rawan plant in Chhattisgarh from 3.5 million tpa to six million tpa with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore.
Birla Corporation has announced plans to set up three Portland cement projects in Madhya Pradesh with a cumulative investment of Rs 380 crore. The units will come up in Ujjain, East Nimar and Guna districts of MP and will have a combined capacity of 1.92 million tpa.
These capacity expansion plans by cement companies indicate an anticipation of a robust cement demand.
There are several reasons for the optimism prevailing among cement manufacturers. The renewed push for faster implementation of infrastructure projects by the new government, increase in residential and commercial construction, and the implementation of dedicated freight corridors and the proposed 100 ‘smart cities’ are some of those reasons which prompted the cement producers to go for capacity expansions.
|