
Displaying items by tag: India Cements
CCI imposes US$66.2m penalty on Shree Cement
19 June 2014India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed the penalty on Shree Cement while issuing the final order in a case against cement manufacturers and their trade body, the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).
"The Commission has imposed a penalty on Shree Cement Ltd at the rate of half of its profits for the years 2009 - 2010 and 2010 – 2011, aggregating to US$66.2m," said the CCI. The CCI added that it had, "Found 11 cement manufacturers, including Shree Cement and the CMA, in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act 2002, which deal with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels." It asked Shree Cement to refrain from such anti-competitive activities in the future.
With regard to the other companies, the CCI said that as they were fined earlier, it was not imposing any penalty on them again for the same period of contravention. In June 2012 the CCI imposed a US$1.05bn fine on 11 leading cement makers, including ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech, India Cements, Binani Cement, JK Cement, Madras Cement, Lafarge and Jaypee Cement. The industry body CMA was also fined US$121,717.
India: India Cements plans to merge with its subsidiary, Trinetra Cements. N Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements, said that the company wanted to consolidate cement operations. The merger will also include Trishul Concrete Products and involve selling land near its plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
"We will get the benefit of profitability of Trinetra and improve the performance of India Cements," said Srinivasan. He adding that, following the merger, the total cement production capacity of India Cements would rise to 15.8Mt/yr.
For its first quarterly results in 2014 India Cements reported a net loss of US$5.19m. The company has also been under a corporate debt-restructuring scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements has a production capacity of 15.5Mt/yr. It has seven integrated cement plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, one in Rajasthan (through Trinetra Cements) and two grinding units, one each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
India Cements slips into the red
27 May 2014India: India Cements has incurred a net loss of US$5.19m for the quarter that ended in March 2014, driven by capacity overhang and weak demand. The company had earned a net profit of US$6.86m in the same period of 2013.
Net sales fell to US$183m from US$202m during the same period of 2013, while expenses dipped marginally to US$183m."Oversupply pressure continues, coupled with poor demand in south India," said India Cement's managing director N Srinivasan. Cement demand in south India was flat during the period. Consequently the company ran its southern cement plants at 70% of their rated capacity. Its Rajasthan plant produced cement at 98% of its rated capacity.
The company has been under a corporate debt-restructuring (CDR) scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements also incurred a US$7.97m loss due to foreign exchange fluctuations.
"With a new government in place we expect a turnaround in demand in the second half of this fiscal year," Srinivasan said.
Two subsidiaries to merge with India Cements
27 February 2014India: Trinetra Cement and Trishul Concrete Products Ltd, both of which are subsidiaries of India Cements Ltd (ICL), will be merged with ICL. The board of ICL met on 26 February 2014 and approved the amalgamation of the two subsidiaries with itself. The amalgamation is subject to regulatory and other approvals.
ICL holds a 61.22% stake in Trinetra, which has a paid-up capital of US$721,000 through its fully-owned subsidiary, ICL Financial Services Ltd. ICL has an 88.4% stake in Trishul Concrete, which has a paid-up capital of US$352,000 through its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Under the scheme of amalgamation, the appointed date for the merger is 1 January 2014.
Southern Indian cement producers start exports to Myanmar
05 February 2014India: Producers in the south of India have started exporting cement to Myanmar in response to depressed market conditions locally. Chettinad Cements, the India Cements, Dalmia Cements and Ramco Cements have all started shipping cement to Myanmar in the past few months, according to local media.
"We started shipments in January 2014 to Myanmar of about 10,000 - 12,000t. It is not very remunerative, but when the chips are down, we have do something to stay afloat," said Vipin Agarwal, CEO-south, Dalmia Cements. He added that producers make 'token' profits from this market but hope it will become profitable in the future. Dalmia transports its cement from Dalmiapuram in central Tamil Nadu to Tuticorin port for subsequent export. Ramco Cements also starting trialling cement exports to Myanmar in mid-2013, having shipped around 40,000t so far.
Agarwal said that demand in south India has continued to fall with growth in Karnataka, no change in Kerala and decreases in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Cement producers in the region are operating at 55% of their rated cement production capacities. Myanmar is the second export market that cement producers are testing, after Sri Lanka.
The India Cements (ICL) slips into red
08 November 2013India: Continued oversupply coupled with low prices pushed The India Cements Ltd (ICL) into the red in the second quarter of 2013. The South India-based cement company said that it had incurred a net loss of US$3.6m for the quarter ending 30 September 2013, compared with a net profit of US$7.8m during the same quarter in 2012. Weak demand for cement resulted in mounting pressure on cement selling prices.
Indian police charge three cement producers with corruption
11 September 2013India: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed separate chargesheets against Penna Cement, Raghuram Cements and India Cements for favours they allegedly received from the Andhra Pradesh state government in 2008 and 2009. According to newspaper The Hindu, YS Jaganmohan Reddy has been accused of influencing his father, deceased chief minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy, to grant government benefits to firms that invested in his own companies.
The CBI allege that Penna Group had invested US$7m in Jagati Publications and US$3.5m in Carmel Asia, both belonging to YSJ Reddy. In return, Penna Cements was allocated mining leases in Anantapur and Kurnool districts and the transfer of limestone mines originally allotted to Walchand Cements. Similar deals with Raghuram Cements (now Bharati Cements) and India Cements are noted in the CBI's charges.
India: The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) has ordered closure of India Cements Limited (ICL) factory at Yerraguntla and initiated action against four more cement plants in the state's Kadapa district, for non-compliance of its directions and standards and causing severe air pollution in surrounding areas.
The APPCB said that it issued closure orders in the interest of protecting public health and the environment, in accordance with a decision taken at a hearing conducted by the APPCB on 5 August 2013. The electricity authorities were directed to disconnect the ICL factory from the grid.
The ICL factory closure was ordered due to: non-compliance with regard to upgrade requirements to its electrostatic precipitators (ESP); failing to meet emissions standards; storing limestone in an open area, leading to excessive dust in nearby public roads and villages; not disposing solid waste correctly; inadequate water sprinkling systems.
Along with the ICL plant, Kadapa district officials investigated the district's four other cement plants. These are an ICL plant at Chilamakul, Zuari Cements at Yerraguntla, Bharti Cements at Kamalapuram and Dalmia Cements at Mylavaram. Bharti Cements must provide an automatic water sprinkling system along its roads to minimise dust emissions by 23 September 2013. The APPCB issued warnings to Zuari and Dalmia to conform to regulatory standards.
India: India Cements has reported that its net profit has fallen by 73% year-on-year to US$2.74m for the first quarter of the 2013 – 2014 fiscal year that ended on 30 June 2013. Its net profit for the same period in the 2012 – 2013 fiscal year was US$10.1m. The Indian cement producer attributed the weak performance to overcapacity in the south of the country, poor demand for cement and low prices, increasing energy costs and depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar.
India Cements' sales remained stable at US$201m in the first quarter of the 2013- 2014 fiscal year compared to US$196m of the same quarter in the previous year. Clinker production rose by 18% year-on-year to 2.08Mt from 1.80Mt. The combined volume of cement and clinker production rose by 11% year-on-year to 2.65Mt from 2.38Mt. The company also reported that its captive power plant at its Vishnupuram cement plant had been commissioned in July 2013 and is expected to stabilise operations in the autumn of 2013.
India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPACT) has ordered cement producers to pay 10% of a US$1.15bn fine imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a price-fixing cartel. The tribunal asked 11 Indian cement producers to pay the fine within 30 days otherwise their appeal against the fine will be dismissed.
COMPAT had reserved its order over a batch of petitions filed by various cement producers and the Cement Manufacturer's Association (CMA) on 18 March 2013 after hearing them on an interim plea. In the petitions, the cement producers had challenged US$1.15bn penalty imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and a US$133,000 fine imposed on the CMA. The cement companies charged with cartel behaviour include Lafarge India, India Cement, JP Associates, Binani Cement, Ambuja Cement, Madras Cement and J K Cement.
The CCI had found cement producers were in violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels. The order was passed following probe by CCI Director General (Investigation) on a complaint filed by Builders Association.