Concrete

We intend to tap housing segment for sale of precast products

Published

12 years ago

October 31, 2014

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Yashovardhan Daga Executive Director, RBBR Infrastructure

Indian construction industry is now slowly embracing precast building technology. Improving socio-economic development has increased demand for affordable housing. Indian government is planning to provide subsidies for builders to meet the shortage of 25 million affordable apartment buildings. Precast is also popular for commercial projects. With growing number of infrastructure projects initiated Precast industry is set to boom in India. The technology has been proven to be a good solution for ensuring work safety and dealing with shortage of skilled labour in the building industry. ICR interacted with Yashovardhan Daga, to understand the growth potential of the sector.

How is precast market evolving in India?
Precast is mostly suitable to companies that take up huge building projects that could be constructed from repetitive simple units. For example, large building companies. However, the demand from such companies is so large that they have their own precast units. So large companies build precast structures for their own captive consumption. Small contractors on the other hand come to precast manufacturers only when they get desperate. They come to us when five months of the six month project are over and now they have to rapidly finish a large chunk of the project in the remaining one month. They might be facing labour shortages and precast is their only way out.

Builders do understand the merit of precast, but the economics do not permit them to setup their own precast units. However, they are getting inspired from success of other builders exploring precast structures and are slowly moving to this method of building. We intend to tap housing segment for sale of precast products.

Why are large infrastructure companies not owning their own precast unit?
It is not necessary that all infrastructure building companies will opt for having a captive precast unit. For example, L&T is one of the largest infrastructure company in India, but they are not setting precast RCC pipe manufacturing units everywhere. Precast RCC pipe manufacturing is not their core business. Neither can one guarantee today how the infrastructure growth will be tomorrow. Today we have lots of road projects in hand, but five year down the line we may not have that many road building projects. So it will be better to outsource precast material, than to have your own unit.

How is the demand for concrete in India?
Concrete is a pretty standard product and there is always a certain amount of demand for this product in the market. However, the demand is low. We are not exactly in the concrete manufacturing business, but we keep interacting with equipment suppliers and we know that the demand is low. However, concrete market in India is large and unorganised and a lot of concrete manufacturing goes unreported.

How is availability of aggregates affecting the business? And what can be done to alleviate the issue?
We are facing aggregate shortage due to ban on mining. In India several mining operations are put to halt for environmental reasons. However, this is not a problem that cannot be solved. Concrete is manufactured in European countries too. European nations have some of the most strictest norms when it comes to environment. If aggregates and concrete can be manufactured there, then India too can find a way to manufacture it here.

One critical aspect here is that in India we do not have concretologists. If you look at the websites of international concrete suppliers, they give in-depth technical details of the material being supplied. Here we are rarely bothered about such details. Yes, we have shortage of aggregates, but then why are we not using granite as aggregate material, which is available in plenty. We are a bit hesitant when it comes to trying out a new technology.

What government initiatives can help precast industry?
Taxation must be rationalised for precast manufacturers. Just because we have a factory we are taxed extra. We often lose customers to competitors who are evading taxes. When a builder purchases a unit from us, they have to pay the VAT as well as Excise. This is an extra burden of around 15 per cent tax on the precast manufacturing industry. We are contributing to construction activity directly and should be treated as construction contractors while designing a tax policy that affects us.

What do you look at while selecting a vendor for suppling equipment?
While selecting a vendor, our first priority is to look at service quality. They must provide support in maintenance of the equipment. If we are churning out tonnes and tonnes of material on a daily basis, the machine is going to require maintenance too. So we want our equipment providers to support us when we need it. This is very important if we are trying a new product for the first time. We expect the vendors to support us for first two months at least. Second is price, but not at the cost of quality.

What about Chinese products? How is their quality?
I have not purchased any thing from china, but I have been visiting the Chinese market and their exploring equipment market. From what I have seen, there is nothing wrong with the quality of Chinese equipment. I saw that their customers are happy, both in and out of China. So, I feel that it is a myth that just because something is from China, its quality is bad.

Chinese manufacturers are perhaps falling short when it comes to marketing skills. We saw that a Chinese company may be selling 1 million units, but when we interact with their people we do not get satisfying answers to our queries. However, when we examine their equipment we do not see anything wrong with it. So I feel that it is just a language barrier.

We rarely develop indigenous products. Are we falling short on technological front?
I think that technology wise we are not lagging behind. A country that can build rockets can also build machinery for precast products. But we have to grow our appetite to take-on challenges. For example, there are only a few big precast manufacturers in India. But if one contacts them for a new product, then they have to contact their foreign partner for the know-how. We must learn to be come self sufficient and develop products indigenously.

Concrete

Jammu Division Begins First Cement Rail Traffic to Anantnag

Cement Loading From Kathua for Anantnag to Begin on September 14

Published

3 days ago

September 21, 2026

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Jammu Railway Division has placed an indent for the first movement of cement by rail within the division, linking Shaheed Captain Sunil Kumar Choudhary Kathua Railway Station with Anantnag Railway Station. Loading for the consignment is scheduled to begin on September 14.

Concrete

Hard Worker Wins Three Honours at Kyoorius Design Awards

Ramco Cements’ brand secures Grand Prix and two Blue Elephant honours.

Published

3 days ago

September 21, 2026

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The Ramco Cements Limited’s construction chemicals brand, Hard Worker, has won three honours at the Kyoorius Design Awards 2026, including the Grand Prix – Grey Elephant in the Design in Action category.

The brand also secured two Blue Elephant honours, one for Design in Action and another for Packaging, recognising the design approach behind its brand identity and packaging.

Launched in 2025, Hard Worker entered the construction chemicals segment with the brand promise, “Hard-working products for hardworking people.” Its visual identity uses animals and birds to represent product benefits. The camel represents the water-retention capability of Hard Worker Eco Plaster, while the cheetah represents the speed and performance of Hard Worker Block Fix.

The visual language has been extended across packaging, retail, communication, literature, digital platforms and other brand touchpoints. Hard Worker uses bold colours, distinctive animal illustrations and simple visual storytelling to communicate product benefits across markets and audiences, including construction workers and applicators.

“For Hard Worker, design was never an afterthought. It was fundamental to how we wanted to build the brand. In a category that is largely functional, we wanted to create a brand that people could recognise, understand and remember instantly. The Kyoorius recognition is a wonderful validation of this design-led approach,” said Mr. AV Dharmakrishnan, CEO, The Ramco Cements Limited.

Mr. Balaji K. Moorthy, Executive Director – Marketing, Ramco Cements said “In a category where communication has traditionally been product-led and functional, we wanted Hard Worker to stand apart by making design an integral part of the brand experience. From the distinctive animal-led packaging to our communication across consumer and trade touchpoints, every element was designed to make the brand more memorable and the product benefits easier to understand.”

Within its first 12 months, Hard Worker crossed Rs 3.5 bn in sales. The latest recognition follows six honours secured by the brand’s campaign at the Kyoorius Creative Awards earlier in 2026, including the Grey Elephant Grand Prix for its Eco Plaster film.

The Kyoorius Design Awards recognise outstanding design work in India’s visual communications sector across multiple categories and platforms. The 2026 awards were announced on 12 September in Goa.

The Ramco Cements Limited is part of the Ramco Group and operates across cement and allied building-material solutions. Hard Worker is its construction chemicals brand, offering solutions across key construction applications.

Concrete

Cement Firms to Invest Rs. 130 bn in Green Energy by FY28

Cement companies plan to expand clean energy capacity to 6 GW by FY28

Published

1 week ago

September 17, 2026

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India’s major cement companies are set to raise their clean energy capacity to 6 GW by March 2028 from around 4 GW at the end of March 2026, according to ratings agency ICRA. The planned expansion is expected to involve investments of Rs. 130 bn over the next two years.

The additional capacity could generate annual savings of Rs. 62 bn to Rs. 67 bn, resulting in an estimated payback period of 1.8 to 2.2 years. Cement is an emission-intensive industry, and leading producers have established net-zero roadmaps covering the next 15 to 20 years.

The calcination process accounts for 57 to 60 per cent of the sector’s total emissions, while fuel combustion contributes 27 to 30 per cent and electricity consumption accounts for 10 to 13 per cent. ICRA said the figures highlighted the need for a broad decarbonisation strategy involving green power, blended cement, alternative fuels and improvements in clinker efficiency.

Green energy is considered one of the most commercially attractive decarbonisation options because it can reduce emissions while lowering operating costs. Every 5 per cent increase in green power replacement can reduce power and fuel costs by Rs. 15 to Rs. 16 per tonne. A 25 per cent replacement level could therefore save Rs. 75 to Rs. 80 per tonne and expand operating margins by 140 to 160 basis points.

Cement producers are also assessing carbon capture, utilisation and storage, although high implementation costs, energy requirements and limited transport and storage infrastructure are expected to slow commercial adoption. The government has proposed Rs. 200 bn over five years to support deployment across key sectors. Meanwhile, companies are targeting thermal substitution rates of 10 to 15 per cent over the next three to five years, compared with the current industry level of around 6 per cent.