Cement industry in India put up a better performance in 2011-12 fiscal thanks to the robust demand revival in the second half of the year, after posting the poorest show in a decade in 2010-11. The 330-million-tonne industry grew 6.4 per cent against less than five per cent in FY11.The performance was better than the cement makers’ earlier estimates of six per cent. However, later in the year when demand revived, industry officials and sector analysts turned positive, with growth projections of 6.5-7 per cent. The industry sold 223.02 million tonne of the building material, compared with 209.5 million tonne in FY11. Production, too, rose to 223.6 million tonne against 210.5 million tonne, up 6.2 per cent.The cement industry managed to grow a mere 3.23 per cent during the first half of the year (April-September). However, the strong revival in demand from the third quarter of FY12 helped cement makers raise prices, which improved their profitability.UltraTech, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Jaiprakash Associates, India Cements – and Shree Cement, collectively control more than half of the cement market in the country. There are 40 companies in cement industry across India.