India?s cement production is heading towards a healthy growth in the years ahead and may touch some 400 million tonnes (MT) by 2019-20, according to a rough estimate from the Cement Manufacturers? Association (CMA). Total installed capacity for cement would reach around 460 MT by the turn of the decade from 431 MT in 2015-16, India Coal Market Watch (ICMW) quoted a CMA official as saying. The rough estimates, however, are based on the assumption that capacity utilisation would increase from the current 66 per cent in 2015-16 to 87 per cent by 2019-20.
Accordingly, the coal requirement for kiln and captive power would also go up to 94 MT from 66 MT in 2015-16, the CMA official added.