Displaying items by tag: India
India: ACC has appointed Sachin Chhabra appointed as Head of Brand Marketing. Prior to this he was Head of Marketing and Digital Communications at Amway India Enterprises, the Indian subsidiary of the US company that sells health, beauty, and home care products. Chhabra was educated at the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad and has also worked for Zenith and DLF.
India: ACC’s profit in the first quarter of the Indian 2021 fiscal year (1 April 2020 – 30 June 2020) was US$36.3m, down by 40% year-on-year from US$60.9m. Sales fell by 38% to US$338m from US$544m. This was due to a 33% fall in cement volumes to 4.80Mt from 7.16Mt and a fall in cement prices.
Nuvoco Vistas completes Emami Cement acquisition
16 July 2020India: Emami Group has completed its divestment of Emami Cement, which is now 100% held by Nuvoco Vistas. Emami Group, which continues activities in the beauty and traditional medicine sectors, received US$731m for the sale of its sole cement industry subsidiary.
Cement Manufacturers Association of India lobbies government against mining licence changes
13 July 2020India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) has contacted the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade to urge its reconsideration of an expected decision that the CMA says will disrupt the mining sector, upon which eight key industries including cement depend. Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the government department may be considering the deletion of a provision of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (Amendment) Act that gives a captive lease to reconnaissance permit (RP) and prospecting licence (PL) holders to begin mining for minerals discovered in the licenced area. The CMA has argued that introducing any additional stage between explorations and extraction “would not go well with the spirit of ‘ease of doing business.’” It added, “The industry would like development policies to be predictable and consistent to usher in fresh investments as well as to protect the efforts and hardships that go into establishing an industrial setup.”
Ambuja Cement digitises supply chain
13 July 2020India: Ambuja Cement has modernised its logistics operations by digitising its supply chain to “improve visibility, deliver quality customer service and optimise cost.” The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the company has integrated all aspects of raw material, fuel and equipment supply and product deliveries on a single online platform in order to “enhance overall efficiency and productivity.” Company director Martin Kriegner said additionally that the digitisation will aid in, “fuel mix optimisation and strategic sourcing, helping to mitigate rising input costs.”
Ambuja Cement’s 3.0Mt/yr greenfield expansion to its integrated 1.5Mt/yr Marwar Munda, Rajasthan plant is scheduled for commission by 1 January 2021. The company has a master supply agreement with ACC aimed at maximising the consistency of cement supply to the Rajasthan market once the new 4.5Mt/yr plant becomes operational.
India: The Bureau of Indian Standards has granted a licence to Counto Microfine Products (CMP), a joint venture of Ambuja Cements and medical company Alcon Group, for the production of micro-fine Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement. The Times of India newspaper has reported that CMP operates a grinding plant in the state of Goa.
India: Sunny Gaur has resigned as the managing director of Jaiprakash Associates due to personal reasons. The conglomerate operates its cement plants in a cluster around Satna in Madhya Pradesh. In 2017 it sold six integrated cement plants and five grinding plants to UltraTech Cement for US$2.5bn in order to reduce its debts.
China/India: UltraTech Cement has agreed to sell its majority stake in Shandong Binani Rongan Cement for around US$120m. As part of the deal its subsidiaries Krishna Holdings and Nathdwara Cement will both divest their shareholdings in the company. UltraTech Cement picked up the 3Mt/yr plant in 2018 as part of its acquisition of Binani Cement in 2018. The buyer has not been named.
JSW Group cuts Chinese imports
03 July 2020India: JSW Group says that it will cease US$400m/yr worth of imports of Chinese equipment and materials due to Chinese military activities on the Sino-Indian border in Kashmir. Managing director Parth Jindal said, “The unprovoked attack by the Chinese on Indian soil, on our brave jawaans has been a huge wakeup call and a clarion call for action.”
Bangladesh: Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and Saudi Arabian-based Engineering Dimension International Investment (EDII) have formed a joint-venture called Saudi Bangla Integrated Cement in order to build a new integrated cement plant. The proposed unit will have a clinker production capacity of 12,000t/day, according to the Dhaka Tribune newspaper. It will be supplied with limestone from Meghalaya in India via a long conveyor belt. If realised the project is expected to create up to 700 direct and indirect jobs. Government-owned BCIC previously signed a partnership agreement with EDII in late 2018.