Displaying items by tag: Shree Cement

Producers and associations in India have been praising this week’s reduction in tax on cement. On 22 September 2025 the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate on cement was cut from 28% to 18%. Local press showed examples of 50kg bags of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) dropping in price by 8% and Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) dropping by 11%.

Anoop Kumar Saxena, the CEO of Vicat’s operations in India, said its subsidiaries would be, “...passing on the complete benefit of this GST reduction to our customers across both our brands - Bharathi Cement in the South and Vicat Cement in Maharashtra.” Shree Cement’s chair HM Bangur echoed these comments. Similarly, the South Indian Cement Manufacturers' Association (SICMA) described the tax cut as a “particularly impactful move.” It went on to reiterate that the move would reduce construction costs to the benefit of both private builders, public housing and infrastructure projects.

Credit rating agency ICRA’s latest report on the cement sector in India has forecast that operating profit margins are set to rise by 12 - 18% to around US$10.50/t in the 2026 financial year (FY2026). The price of cement in India increased by 7.5% year-on-year from April to August 2025. Despite the current price drop though, an increase of 3 - 5% is anticipated for FY2026 as a whole. Cement sales volumes grew by 8.5% from April to August 2025 and are projected to increase by 6 - 7% to 480 - 485Mt in FY2026. ICRA noted that input prices are expected to remain stable in FY2026. However, it warned that petcoke and freight costs are linked to global crude oil prices and are exposed to global trends. That warning from ICRA is fitting given that one of the reasons the GST has been adjusted is widely interpreted to have been in response to the 50% tariffs that the US imposed upon India at the end of August 2025. The lower GST rates are expected to boost consumption but there are worries that this will come at the expense of reduced tax income and subsequent government spending.

For those unfamiliar with India’s tax system, the GST was introduced in 2017 as a way of simplifying some of the country’s central and state taxes. Broadly, it has been viewed as a success. It should also be noted that the current changes to GST mostly further simplify the tax from four bands to two. Yet, similar to Value Added Tax (VAT) in other countries, consumption taxes can create odd situations through their complexity. Typically this ends up with arguments over the classifications of goods and services for tax purposes. For example, in the UK the company that manufactures Jaffa Cakes infamously challenged the revenue authorities in the 1990s over whether their product should be classified as a biscuit or a cake for tax purposes! As the tax lawyer Dan Neidle joked, “any sufficiently detailed VAT rule is indistinguishable from satire.”

A cut to the price of cement in the world’s second biggest cement market is big news. It may be temporary if the analysts like ICRA are correct and prices carry on mounting. Cement producers - and other businesses along the supply chain - may also decide to withhold the tax cut either now or later on. Meanwhile, factors outside of India such as global fuel prices may exert themselves. For the time being though it’s a good news story.

India: Leading cement producers have broadly reported ‘strong’ performances in the three months to 30 June 2025, driven by increased government spending on key infrastructure projects. They expect their bottom lines to continue to rise in the rest of the 2026 financial year (FY2026), which ends on 31 March 2026, with coal and petcoke prices expected to remain at a lower level than in FY2025.

UltraTech Cement reported 10% growth in its cement sales volumes in the first quarter of FY2026, to 36.8Mt, helped by acquisitions of India Cements and the cement business of Kesoram Industries. Adani Group subsidiary Ambuja Cements also reported its highest-ever sales volumes, of 18.4Mt. Birla Corporation’s sales volumes rose by 9% per cent to 4.8Mt, while Nirma Group subsidiary Nuvoco Vistas reported sales volumes of 5.1Mt.

However, some companies, including Shree Cement, saw their volumes decline due to geopolitical tensions in the North of India. Dalmia Bharat's sales volumes fell by 6% to 7.4Mt, impacted by the discontinuation of tolling volumes from Jaypee Cement, while Ramco Cements reported a 7% decline due to early monsoon rains in Kerala.

In the near-term future, demand is expected to be flat in the second quarter of FY2026 due to the monsoon season. However, companies anticipate growth in the third and fourth quarters of the year, with volumes growth of around 7% anticipated across the whole of FY2026.

India: Shree Cement has commissioned a 6MW solar power plant at its Roorkee unit in Uttarakhand, located next to its existing cement operations. This raises total solar capacity at the site to 7MW. The project cost US$1.8m, and brings the company’s total solar footprint to 294MW. It is expected to offset 6500t/yr of CO₂ emissions.

India: During the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year (which ended on 31 March 2025), premium products constituted 16% of Shree Cement’s sales mix, up from 12% one year previously. During the period, the company further diversified its offering with the launch of two new premium cements, Bangur Marble Portland slag cement and Extra White Portland slag cement, in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Both products are designed for maximum brightness and smoothness within their category of CEM-II Portland slag cements. The company says that its growing portfolio helped it to increase its full-year financial realisation per tonne by 5% year-on-year.

Business Today News has reported that managing director Neeraj Akhoury said "In the 2025 financial year, 74% of our cement output was blended, avoiding over 7.2Mt of CO₂ emissions."

Shree Cement crossed 60% consumption of energy from renewable sources in May 2025, Construction World News has reported. It has 582MW of installed renewable power capacity and is currently in the process of building a 1MW battery storage system at one of its cement plants in India.

India: Shree Cement recorded sales of US$2.38bn in the 2025 financial year, down by 5.5% year-on-year. Operating expenses increased by 2.9% to US$2.17bn, resulting in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$528m, down by 12% year-on-year. Net profit dropped by 50% to US$141m.

Shree Cement said that the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year brought cement sales of 9.84Mt, up by 3.3% year-on-year from 9.53Mt in the fourth quarter of the 2024 financial year. Premium products contributed 16% of sales.

India: Shree Cement has secured mining rights for a limestone quarry spanning 912 hectares. The reserve has a capacity of 211Mt and is situated in Jaisalmer District, Rajasthan.

India: Shree Cement has commissioned its new grinding unit in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, with an investment of US$917m, funded through internal accruals. The plant’s location near railway lines allows for efficient transport of raw materials from Rajasthan, and the unit will distribute cement via roadways and a new highway-access road. It features ‘zero-waste’ operations, air-cooled screw compressors to reduce water usage and advanced filtration systems.

The plant will consume 5000t/day of fly ash from the adjacent Jawaharpur Thermal Power Plant. A solar power installation is planned within two to three years.

India: Shree Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Karnataka to invest nearly US$1bn in cement manufacturing facilities over the next five years. The producer will build a cement plant in the city of Kalaburagi, with 3.5Mt/yr of clinker capacity and 3Mt/yr of cement capacity, for US$288m. The plant will create 300 jobs and start production in 2025.

Shree Cement will build a second plant nearby, in the Kalaburagi district. The plant will have a clinker capacity of 3.5Mt/yr and an eventual cement capacity of 6Mt/yr, to be commissioned in two phases. It will create 750 jobs and cost US$575m. Commissioning is scheduled for 2030.

The last project planned is for a clinker grinding plant in the district of Bangalore Rural, with a capacity of 3Mt/yr and a cost of US$98m. The facility will create 250 jobs and begin production in 2028.

Shree Cement has stated that it is ‘committed to sustainable development’ and will ‘incorporate advanced technologies to ensure environmentally friendly operations.’

India: Shree Cement has reported that, in the third quarter of the 2025 financial year, its profit after tax fell by 72%, to US$22.4m, down from US$81m in the previous corresponding period. The company’s net consolidated total income declined by 12% year-on-year to US$540m, whilst sales volumes increased by 15% to 8.77Mt compared to the second quarter of the 2025 financial year. The company plans to commission its ongoing expansion projects in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh in the first quarter of the 2025-2026 financial year.

India: Shree Cement’s profit plunged by more than 80% year-on-year to US$11.0m in the three months to 30 September 2024, weighed down by weakness in both demand and low prices. While the September quarter is seasonally weak for cement makers in India, the country's third largest producer's sales volume slipped as compared to the previous year too, falling by 7% to 7.6Mt.

Neeraj Akhoury, managing director of Shree Cement, said "Despite strong headwinds on account of an extended monsoon season and softer pricing environment across the industry, Shree Cement has delivered a steady performance on the back of accelerated operational efficiency measures, focused cost optimisation drive and product ‘premium-isation’ initiatives.” He added that the company expects an increase in demand in the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year due to the release of government budgetary allocations for national infrastructure projects.