The cement industry in India has gone through a consolidation phase during the last decade. The consolidation is still on and looking at the fragmentation in the industry, it is likely to gather further momentum in the years to come. The upshot of the hectic merger and acquisition activity is that the biggest domestic players have got even bigger, while the foreign cement majors have gained a firm foothold in the Indian cement market. Such consolidation is inevitable considering that there are still too many players in the industry fragmenting the market into unviable bits and pieces. More importantly, consolidation is necessary as most of the cement companies in India, barring the top few, are still stuck up with outdated machinery and technology and desperately need to upgrade to remain competitive and viable. Further, the prospect of Planning Commission’s projected spend on infrastructure-led growth, creates a new orbit for cement for the long term. But cement firms need to be cued into technology development even on the material as great advancements are on the anvil. Cement indeed is likely to see big deals ahead.This issue carries the interview of Suman Mukherjee, MD & CEO of Shree Digvijay Cement Company. Mukherjee sees Tier-II and Tier-III cities as the next growth drivers for the cement industry due to infrastructure development in future and availability of good number of cement consumers in these cities.In the ‘Spotlight’ section, we have featured the well-diversified conglomerate Hyderabad-based NCL Industries. The company has a strong presence in the cement business in the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh and its other businesses are well-established to smoothen out the cyclical nature of the cement business.In the ‘Technology’ section, Jay Gupta and Rakesh Kalra of Holtec Consulting dwell at length on new concepts in material handling which could substantially reduce loading and unloading time, quantity of material movement and area for grinding units. In the second part of the two-part series paper, EugenKleen of MC-Bauchemie Mueller GmbH and Co.KG looks at the materials required to change normal concrete to durable media resistant concrete for use in tunnelling application. In ‘Marketing Wizard’, Sanjay Monga, Country Head – India, Bellissimo, provides some useful insights into marketing of their products in India.Please send in your feedback/letters to editorial@indiancementreview.com