Displaying items by tag: India

India: Nuvoco Vistas will build a 2Mt/yr grinding unit in Kutch as part of its plan to refurbish and put into operation the recently acquired assets of Vadraj Cement. The project adds US$35m to the US$141m originally allocated to restart Vadraj’s cement assets in Kutch and Surat, bringing the total planned investment to US$177m, phased over 2025 to 2027. Nuvoco aims to commission the grinding unit and start up the existing Vadraj assets by December 2027. These include a 3.5Mt/yr clinker unit in Kutch, a 6Mt/yr grinding unit in Surat and limestone reserves.

Nuvoco’s total production capacity will increase to around 31Mt/yr. The company currently sells 1Mt/yr of cement in Gujarat from its facilities in Rajasthan, but post-commissioning, the Kutch and Surat sites will serve Gujarat and northern Maharashtra and release Rajasthan capacity for northern markets.

India: Nuvoco Vistas Corporation has reported that a decline in cement and ready-mix concrete sales caused an 85% year-on-year fall in its net consolidated profit for the 2025 financial year (FY2025), which ended on 31 March 2025.

Its net profit attributable to its owners fell from US$17.5m in FY2024 to just US$2.6m in FY2025. Its revenues from operations fell by 3.5% to US$1.23bn, while revenues from cement operations also fell by 3.5%, to US$1.12bn. Nuvoco Vistas sold 1.94Mt of cement during FY2025.

Nuvoco Vistas’s managing director, Jayakumar Krishnaswamy, said "Despite a subdued demand environment in the first half of FY2025, the company witnessed a strong rebound in the second half. The company responded swiftly by capitalising on emerging opportunities to strengthen its market presence.”

India: UltraTech Cement reported consolidated net sales of US$2.67bn in the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year, up from US$2.35bn year-on-year. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax rose to US$554m from US$498m, while profit after tax grew to US$291m from US$265m.

Consolidated sales volumes reached 41Mt for the quarter, growing by 17% year-to-year. Capacity utilisation was 89% during the quarter and 78% for the full year. UltraTech commissioned 17.4Mt/yr of capacity during the period, raising its domestic grey cement capacity to 183Mt/yr and its global capacity to 188.76Mt/yr.

The company achieved 1GW of renewable power installations, which it says makes it the first industrial company in India to commission 1GW of renewable capacity for captive use. It added 269MW of renewable power during the quarter, bringing its total renewable energy capacity to 1.363GW, including waste heat recovery systems. This covers 46% of Ultratech’s current power needs.

India: ICRA expects cement volumes to grow by 6-7% in the 2026 financial year, following a 6% rise in 2025, driven by housing and infrastructure demand. Capacity additions are forecast to increase to 43-45Mt/yr from 32-35Mt/yr in 2025. Eastern and northern regions will lead the expansion, with 22–24Mt/yr of new grinding capacity.

The assistant vice president of corporate ratings, Abhishek Lahoti, added “The southern region, despite an oversupply of capacity, is experiencing significant capacity additions by large cement companies as it is operating at optimal utilisation levels and intends to maintain its market share in the near term. Overall, the industry’s capacity utilisation is likely to remain stable at 70% in the 2026 financial year, similar to the previous financial year, on an expanded base.”

India: The Rural Development Department has signed a memorandum of understanding with ACC Cements to co-process non-recyclable plastic waste at its Barmana plant. The initiative will cover the Bilaspur, Chamba, Kangra, Kullu and Mandi districts. The partnership follows similar agreements with Ambuja Cements and UltraTech Cements, and aims to reduce environmental pollution and landfill use through cement kiln co-processing.

India: Orient Cement has appointed Vaibhav Dixit as its CEO. He succeeds Desk Deepak Khetrapal, who has resigned from the post. Other notable appointments include that of Vinod Bahety as chair and Kajal Sarda as chief financial officer.

Dixit has worked in the cement industry for more than 20 years with jobs at ACC, including Unit Head of Jamul Cement Works, Unit Head of Sindri Cement Works, Project Head at Sindri, Head Engineering of Bargarh Cement Works and Chief Manager Maintenance of Kymore Cement Works. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Madhav Institute of Technology and Sciences.

Bahety became the CEO of Ambuja Cements and ACC earlier in April 2025. Prior to this, he was the CFO of the subsidiaries of Adani Group from 2022. He also worked as the Group Head for Merger & Acquisition at Adani Group. He holds qualifications as a chartered accountant and a cost and works accountant.

Sarda, a trained chartered accountant, has worked for other 20 years in business finance. She has been the Head of Financial Reporting at Adani Gorup since 2023. Prior to this, she worked for as Corporate Finance Controller for Hindustan Zinc and as a Marketing Controller at Bharat Aluminium Company.

Ambuja Cements secured approval from the Competition Commission of India in March 2025 to buy Orient Cement.

India: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued a draft notification to establish India’s first compliance-based carbon market, according to The New Indian Express. The draft covers heavy industries such as cement, and lists 186 cement plants belonging to Ultratech Cement, Ambuja Cement, Dalmia Cement and others. These plants must cut greenhouse gas emission intensity (GEI) for two years, starting from the 2025–26 financial year under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme 2023. Non-compliant producers must purchase carbon credit certificates, or failing this, face penalties from the Central Pollution Control Board. The draft will be finalised following a 60-day public consultation.

India: Gebr. Pfeiffer has commissioned a Pfeiffer MVR 6000 R-6 raw material mill and a Pfeiffer MPS 3550 BK coal mill at UltraTech Cement’s Maihar cement plant in Madhya Pradesh. The Germany-based company said that these were the 42nd and 43rd vertical roller mills supplied to UltraTech Cement.

India: The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has approved Vadraj Cement’s acquisition by Nirma Group-owned cement producer Nuvoco Vistas. Gujarat-based Vadraj Cement, formerly owned by ABG Shipyard, has admitted liabilities of US$1.1bn, while Nuvoco Vistas proposes to pay US$209m to acquire the company through the bankruptcy process.

Vadraj Cement operates grinding units in Surat, with a total capacity of 6Mt/yr, and a clinker plant of 3.5Mt/yr in Kutch, which mostly supplies the grinding plants. All assets are located in the state of Gujarat. The acquisition will increase Nuvoco Vistas’ cement capacity to around 31Mt/yr, making it the fifth-largest cement producer in India by installed capacity.

Nuvoco Vistas won an auction for the business against other bidders, including JK Cement, JSW Cement, KIFS, RKG Fund and Orissa Metaliks.

India: The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has approved Nuvoco Vistas’ US$209m acquisition of Vadraj Cement. The deal will raise Nuvoco’s installed capacity by over 20% to around 31Mt/yr. It will be executed through wholly-owned subsidiary Vanya Corporation, which will be merged with Vadraj Cement as part of the deal.

Nuvoco Vistas will invest a further US$139m over 15 to 18 months to revive Vadraj Cement’s operations, which have reportedly been stalled for ‘nearly seven years’, and begin production by the end of 2026. Vadraj Cement’s assets include a 3.5Mt/yr clinker unit in Kutch and a 6Mt/yr grinding unit in Surat, Gujarat.