Economy & Market

GST regime is full of challenges and needs resilience

Published

9 years ago

September 30, 2017

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Endorsed as "Good & Simple Tax", Amman Devralia, Executive Director, KHD Humboldt Wedag, has a high expectation that it will buoy the Indian economy and bring the informal sector into the formal sector. In an interview with Nitin Madkaikar, Devralia reiterates its success will depend on the readiness of the entire supply chain (suppliers, distributors, retailers, logistics partners etc.) to adopt the regime. Is the GST regime conducive as it described before the launch on July 1, 2017?
GST has been endorsed as "Good and Simple Tax". ‘Good’ because it minimises the cascading effect of taxes (i.e., levying of tax on things that have already been taxed), thereby reducing the cost of doing business, and ‘Simple’ as it replaces multitude of indirect taxes, thereby increasing ease-of-doing business.
There are huge expectations that the biggest indirect tax reform will boost the Indian economy in the long run and huge shift will be seen from unorganised to organised sector. However, a period of three months is too short to come to a conclusion.
The fundamental aspect of GST is the seamless flow of input tax credit along the entire value chain, wherein credit of taxes paid on inputs at each stage is available in the subsequent stage of value addition, thereby making GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage. The ability to claim input tax credit under the GST regime depends on timely compliance and matching of data filed by the parties along the entire supply chain. Any lapse on part of the supplier may lead to denial of input tax credit in the hands of the recipient, thereby casting an additional burden on the recipient to ensure timely compliance by the supplier. As a safeguard, two-stage payment mechanism is being followed by the recipient wherein the basic portion is paid upfront to the supplier and tax portion only after reconciliation of data filed in the respective GST returns.
Some of the concerns includes:
a) readiness of the entire supply chain;
b) un-interrupted connectivity to GST Network;
c) increased level of compliance and reporting on a monthly basis. Reports say that three returns have to be filed each month. Is this posing any operational problem/s in the supply chain?
Large entities were filing at-least three returns each month under different indirect tax laws (i.e. excise return, first stage dealer return, VAT and CST return) under the erstwhile tax regime as well. The real pain area under the GST regime as compared to the erstwhile tax regime is the level of compliance and reporting required to be done on a monthly basis. Entities are required to enter invoice level details in the monthly GST returns, which is a cumbersome process. Smaller entities without the required infrastructure are finding it difficult to manually enter invoice level details and large entities are facing infrastructural bottlenecks in uploading huge volume of data. In some ways, the government has outsourced the tax compliance to businesses in order to ensure compliance along the entire supply chain. Are you satisfied with the procedures that came into force after July 1?
The design of a single IT platform – GST Network – as a common interface between the tax payers and tax authorities for the core functions of administration (like, registration, filing and processing of returns, payments and refunds), is definitely a step towards paperless regime. However, provisions with respect to self-invoicing and payment vouchers for inward supplies from unregistered vendors, issuance of advance receipt vouchers on receipt of advances from customers, etc., entails additional paper work. Further, the ongoing glitches in the GST Network has been disappointing and raises doubts about the operational capacity of the GST Network, which is the foundation for paperless regime. The three months being seasonally weak for the industry, what was the impact on business compared with the past weak seasons?
As per industry reports, cement production witnessed a decline of 3.9 per cent in Q1FY17. Cement production stood at 72.67 million tonne (MT) in Q1FY17 as compared to 75.7 MT in Q1FY16. The decline was due to low inventory addition in the real estate and housing sector (accounting for about two-third of the total cement consumption in India), as the regulations and compliances under newly implemented Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 – RERA, made the developers cautious. With RERA implementation to be completed by the end of Q2FY17, clarity on the impact of GST on the real estate and housing sector coupled with government’s initiatives towards building affordable housing should eventually drive the demand for cement from the real estate and housing sector. Also, public infrastructure development lead by execution of smart cities and national highways projects across the country should drive the demand for cement from the infrastructure and construction sector in the next quarters. Has the need for working capital risen, given that refunds are still locked with exchequer?
Yes, under the erstwhile tax regime, exporters enjoyed upfront tax exemption on purchases against concessional tax forms, which is not available under the GST regime. Under the GST regime, GST paid on inward supplies is required to be claimed as refund by the exporters. However, due to glitches in the GST Network, the deadline for filing GST returns for July 2017 (the first month under the GST regime) has been extended twice, with GSTR-3 now required to be filed as late as November 10, 2017. The extension in filing GST returns for the first and therefore subsequent months means delay in processing of refunds by the authorities thereby increasing the requirement for additional working capital. Do you think GST regime will attract investment in your end use industry?
The demand for cement is driven by real estate and housing sector, accounting for about two-third of the total cement consumption in India. The other major consumers of cement include infrastructure, commercial construction and industrial construction. Given the government’s initiatives towards building affordable housing and public infrastructure development, GST regime will certainly attract investment in the real estate and construction sector. Further, bringing the real estate under the ambit of GST can boost the investment in the sector. Is there any other information you wish to share.
The GST regime aims to widen the tax base by bringing the informal sector under the ambit of formal economy resulting in higher tax revenues for the exchequer, gradually allowing a move towards fewer slabs and lower GST rate. The transition has just started and the ride to make GST a "Good and Simple Tax" will be long and full of challenges requiring resilience on part of government and businesses. The successful implementation of GST will certainly drive the Indian economy offering opportunities for growth across sectors.

Economy & Market

TSR Will Define Which Cement Companies Win India’s Net-Zero Race

Published

5 days ago

April 27, 2026

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Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology

India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.

According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.

Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.

The Regulatory Push Is Real

The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.

Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.

Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem

Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.

The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.

Engineering a Made-in-India Answer

At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.

Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.

Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.

The Investment Case Is Now

The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.

The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.

The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.

The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.

About The Author

Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.

Concrete

WCA Welcomes SiloConnect as associate corporate member

Published

3 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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The World Cement Association (WCA) has announced SiloConnect as its newest associate corporate member, expanding its network of technology providers supporting digitalisation in the cement industry. SiloConnect offers smart sensor technology that provides real-time visibility of cement inventory levels at customer silos, enabling producers to monitor stock remotely and plan deliveries more efficiently. The solution helps companies move from reactive to proactive logistics, improving delivery planning, operational efficiency and safety by reducing manual inspections. The technology is already used by major cement producers such as Holcim, Cemex and Heidelberg Materials and is deployed across more than 30 countries worldwide.

Concrete

TotalEnergies and Holcim Launch Floating Solar Plant in Belgium

Published

3 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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TotalEnergies and Holcim have commissioned a floating solar power plant in Obourg, Belgium, built on a rehabilitated former chalk quarry that has been converted into a lake. The project has a generation capacity of 31 MW and produces around 30 GWh of renewable electricity annually, which will be used to power Holcim’s nearby industrial operations. The project is currently the largest floating solar installation in Europe dedicated entirely to industrial self-consumption. To ensure minimal impact on the surrounding landscape, more than 700 metres of horizontal directional drilling were used to connect the solar installation to the electrical substation. The project reflects ongoing collaboration between the two companies to support industrial decarbonisation through renewable energy solutions and innovative infrastructure development.