India Cements is expecting a better performance during the current financial year, compared to last year, due to its efforts in bringing down cost of production and increased capacity utilisation. Speaking to shareholders in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, N Srinivasan, Vice-chairman and Managing Director of the company said that capacity utilisation had increased to 65 per cent during the first quarter of this financial year, and is expected to be better during this financial year than last year.
As part of low cost production, the company is increasing the use of pet coke with the consumption going up to almost 60 per cent during the first quarter of the financial year, compared to 30 per cent during the previous financial year and is expected to further increase, though pet coke prices have gone up. ?The above nominal rainfall reported so far is expected to give a fillip to rural demand while the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations and One Rank One Pension scheme are expected to improve urban consumption,? said Srinivasan.