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India’s ambitious ‘housing for all’ scheme is bumping up against some harsh realities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mandated affordable housing for all (read slum-residents, lower-income group and middle-class income group beneficiaries, who would be provided subsidised homes and interest subsidies to place homes at reasonable market values) in India as target for achievement between June 2015 and 2022.
This is expected to create two crore odd homes for those without a house of their own in India’s urban centers. Pegged at two crore homes by 2022, the intended phase I milestone ended in March this year and was expected to cover 100 cities as identified by the respective states.
Chairman of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Gautam Chatterjee is enthused by the target timeline-based policy that hinges on four verticals of a) Using land as a resource for slum rehabilitation through private developers b) Credit linked subsidy for weaker sections c) Affordable housing for the middle income groups through public and private sectors and d) Subsidy system for individual house construction.
The RERA chief, who is on a fast track of clearing housing related litigation mostly involving home buyers and developers (525 rulings issued already by RERA since July when it came into being) says, "The government is trying to rope in the private sector players which has the requisite capability and strength, but has lacked the intention right uptill now, to partner with the state and deliver a product according to the need of the situation.This capacity (for building mass homes) doesn’t not exist within the government machinery. Let’s just forget government machinery being able to be the creator on such a scale to accomplish two crore homes. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and statutory bodies across the country, put together, cater to only two to five per cent of the total need in the country for housing."
He adds, "Clubbed with the present situation in the market, where there is a huge unsold inventory of various luxury segments that they (private developers) have been targeting all this time, this is the most opportune time for such an initiative. The government has not targeted investors who have run away from the market, that is waiting up on self correction to boost market demand for some time now. So, since there exists a market with a need for affordable housing by a particular segment of the population, and the government is coming forward through interest subsuming as well as direct subsidy, besides being willing to partner with the private sector. This is the most important juncture (in the real estate industry) and the private sector should grab this opportunity and if possible it (mass affordable housing) will happen."
Bolstering Chatterjee’s opinion on the realty situation is Dr Samantak Das, the Chief Economist and National Director (research) with Knight Frank India, whose latest research on the realty sector shows a sharp fall in realty prices in India’s financial capital of Mumbai.
Says Dr Das, "For the first time in this decade the Mumbai market has experienced a drop in residential prices. Unlike the conventional narrative developers cut down prices to offload their unsold inventory. The base price has come down by 5 per cent which translates into an effective price benefit of 11-12 per cent for buyers. This includes bouquet of incentives such as waivers on stamp duty, floor rise and assured rental schemes. In addition we have observed that the retail inflation has been growing higher than the city price which provides an additional benefit to buyers as far as house price is concerned. The trend stems from the periodic deterioration of the market’s health with launches coming to a grinding halt. In terms of sales the Mumbai market recorded 19% uptick in H2 2017 over the demonetisation-hit same period last year, however overall sales volumes reflect a declining pattern."
National President of NAREDCO Niranjan Hirandani described the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Housing for All policy as, "Works in progress". Says he, "The policy is in place although the implementation has been rather slow. But things are picking up. Various state government are taking due steps to make this a reality, and the Central Government has done much in recent times to ensure the process has sped up."
He adds, "The steps taken in the wake of the ambitious scheme are as follows: (i) Affordable Housing was given Infrastructure status in Budget 2017; (ii) Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) to provide loans at much lower interest rates was set up; (iii) The Indian Cabinet approved an increase in carpet area for houses eligible under the CLSS for the Middle Income Group; (iv) The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is a member of the World Bank Group, and mortgage lender HDFC have partnered to create a USD 800-million-dollar fund to finance the construction of affordable houses; (v) The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has communicated with state/UT governments to adopt alternative, sustainable and innovative technologies for faster construction of affordable houses and finally, (vi) utilisation of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) as a mechanism to acquire speedy acquisition of land for developing infrastructure, as also allowing developers to unlock land potential by in-situ rehabilitation of slums. So yes, the government is working towards the mission of ‘Housing for All by 2022’."
In September 2017, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, announced a new public-private partnership (PPP) policy for affordable housing that allows extending central assistance of up to Rs 2.50 lakh per each house to be built by private builders even on private lands. Under this policy, eight PPP (Public Private Partnership) models have been provided for private sector to invest in affordable housing segment. It has also opened potential for private investments in affordable housing projects on government lands in urban areas.
Hiranandani cautions about the challenges ahead and says, "Affordable Housing for All by 2022′ is not without challenges. One of the biggest challenges is scarcity of land, especially in urban areas – and absolutely in the Metro Cities. This, along with other challenges, has resulted in delays in the progress of the mission. While ‘Ease of Doing Business’ is fine, approval delays still lead to delays in completing projects, which results in increased project costs and impacts affordability."
He adds, "Increasing the personal income tax limit to Rs 600,000 as the Lower Income Group (LIG) category falls in this segment. LIG being the one of the most important categories in ‘affordable housing’ segment, it’s important that the Government gives them this tax relief. This will ensure that the tax amount saved can then be invested in paying home loan EMI’s of affordable homes which they can think of buying. In addition, this will be a great step in making the Prime Minister’s mission of ‘Housing for All by 2020’ a grand success. Real Estate Sector should be allotted ‘Infrastructure’ status. This will lead to construction funds being available to the developer at much lower interest rates. This is eventually going to benefit the end customers from economically weaker section (EWS) and lower income group (LIG) as the developers would be in a position of making the projects really ‘affordable’ in its true sense.
Finally, the government must ensure that large steel companies do not face the shortage of raw materials by providing them the required support. This will lead in a sustainable and price-stable supply of steel ensuring speedy progress in the construction activity thereby assisting in completing the projects on-time with is now a compliance requirement as per RERA guidelines. Also, some concrete steps are needed to be taken to ‘insulate’ steel and cement prices.
Only Namdeo Govind Dendge, who lives on the street in south Mumbai’s busy roads, is not convinced, "As far as we (street dwellers) are concerned, we fall in the blind spot of whichever government is in place in India. The government does not have a humane way of surveying all those in dire need of accommodation. Whether the Housing for all scheme results in a house for me and my family or not remains to be seen. What I, and scores of people like me, are experiencing today is the harsh side of the government. (Like the Housing for All policy brought into force in 2015) They brought in a legislation to protect hawkers in the country in 2015 and today we are being driven out of the very streets that earned us a dignified life, despite living on the streets. What should we do now to earn a living? Where should we go?"
On cue with this strain of thought is retired town planner and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ashok Sinha (who has served on CIDCO and as divisional commissioner of the Konkan Railways amongst other posts), who says, "We are a country that has struggled with the task of creating enough number of toilets and drinking water schemes for years together, with limited success. Similar efforts at creating affordable housing were tried out even in the early 80s as well, although with varying degrees of success. Traditionally, such projects have stop short of achieving housing for the poorest sections in the past. The identified sites of the projects were ideally suited to the developers and not the intended beneficiaries. For instance when small size tenements were mandated to cater to lower segments and even middle class households in Mumbai, the developers simply capitalise on the schemes and create homes in the prescribed smaller unit sizes, but prefer to sell it to the rich as a combined package of three to four units instead."
"Even the intended beneficiaries face challenges. For instance if some persons being targeted for cheap housing like househel or daily wage earners are given accommodation in an inappropriate place of project that is far away from their place of work, it would become difficult for these beneficiaries to resist the temptation to sell of their abodes and revert back to their original shanties for work reasons.

Similarly, for some beneficiaries a house may not be their most important priority in sync with the time the government is keen to create affordable housing stock for their interest, so they may still sell their affordable home to say finance a marriage or even a business venture that may fail. Even for the middle class, an affordable housing project at Khopoli may at best be interesting as a second home. Or some journalists may have been given state subsidized homes, but found appropriate to sell them off to finance say, their child’s education and the intention of the project would be defeated."
As a solution Sinha advises, "The first phase of the Housing for All project should identify and prioritise servicing the housing needs to those who are seeking housing as their first priority. Secondly, all such housing projects should should be packaged as community projects, and not restricted to cold accommodation without the requisite social and physical components. At CIDCO community building was not the norm, but rather the exception where CIDCO may have constructed say a small educational facility, or temple or even medical centre only out of compulsion and in the wake of unrest and agitations by the project affected persons (PAPs). I remember at CIDCO, taking charge ten years after the project was initiated and I was still handing over the physical possession of some homes to intendant beneficiaries of a decade ago."
CIDCO was never a model agency that constructed low cost houses as it only planned the scheme through a limited coverage perspective says Sinha and adds, "The basic premise is ‘planning for life’ when undertaking such projects of affordable housing. Today the CIDCO creation of New Mumbai has 50 per cent of its population travelling to work to Mumbai daily. Has the intended purpose of distressing Mumbai city worked? The idea should not be to fight established norms. Don’t think of the ideal home. The strategy should be to make the commute of these 50 per cent commuters easier to give them a quality living."
He adds, "There was a Site and Services Scheme (SSS) that established that no technically constructed house can fullfill the explained need of the poor. They are organic creatures. You cannot give them mere RCC constructions or ’round shaped igloos’ as an end all. They would promptly abandon the igloo and set up a cloth tent right outside the igloo itself. There has to be a constant watch over the changing needs and what we are able to supply. With reasonable planning and a perspective of say 20 years housing for all can be achieved. We should consider this (2015 to 2022)as the first phase. There is still need for discussing genuine concerns of all stakeholders and organisations."
Agreeing with this the RERA chief says, "Townships have to be created failing which affordable transport options and links connecting to these homes will need to be created if the project has to succeed on such a large scale."– RENNI ABRAHAM

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Economy & Market

Impactful Branding

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Advertising or branding is never about driving sales. It’s about creating brand awareness and recall. It’s about conveying the core values of your brand to your consumers. In this context, why is branding important for cement companies? As far as the customers are concerned cement is simply cement. It is precisely for this reason that branding, marketing and advertising of cement becomes crucial. Since the customer is unable to differentiate between the shades of grey, the onus of creating this awareness is carried by the brands. That explains the heavy marketing budgets, celebrity-centric commercials, emotion-invoking taglines and campaigns enunciating the many benefits of their offerings.
Marketing strategies of cement companies have undergone gradual transformation owing to the change in consumer behaviour. While TV commercials are high on humour and emotions to establish a fast connect with the customer, social media campaigns are focussed more on capturing the consumer’s attention in an over-crowded virtual world. Branding for cement companies has become a holistic growth strategy with quantifiable results. This has made brands opt for a mix package of traditional and new-age tools, such as social media. However, the hero of every marketing communication is the message, which encapsulates the unique selling points of the product. That after all is crux of the matter here.
While cement companies are effectively using marketing tools to reach out to the consumers, they need to strengthen the four Cs of the branding process – Consumer, Cost, Communication and Convenience. Putting up the right message, at the right time and at the right place for the right kind of customer demographic is of utmost importance in the long run. It is precisely for this reason that regional players are likely to have an upper hand as they rely on local language and cultural references to drive home the point. But modern marketing and branding domain is exponentially growing and it would be an interesting exercise to tabulate and analyse its impact on branding for cement.

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Concrete

Indian cement industry is well known for its energy and natural resource efficiency

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Dr Hitesh Sukhwal, Deputy General Manager – Environment, Udaipur Cement Works Limited (UCWL) takes us through the multifaceted efforts that the company has undertaken to keep emissions in check with the use of alternative sources of energy and carbon capture technology.

Tell us about the policies of your organisation for the betterment of the environment.
Caring for people is one of the core values of our JK Lakshmi Cement Limited. We strongly believe that we all together can make a difference. In all our units, we have taken measures to reduce carbon footprint, emissions and minimise the use of natural resources. Climate change and sustainable development are major global concerns. As a responsible corporate, we are committed with and doing consistent effort small or big to preserve and enrich the environment in and around our area of operations.
As far as environmental policies are concerned, we are committed to comply with all applicable laws, standards and regulations of regulatory bodies pertaining to the environment. We are consistently making efforts to integrate the environmental concerns into the mainstream of the operations. We are giving thrust upon natural resource conservation like limestone, gypsum, water and energy. We are utilising different kinds of alternative fuels and raw materials. Awareness among the employees and local people on environmental concerns is an integral part of our company. We are adopting best environmental practices aligned with sustainable development goals.
Udaipur Cement Works Limited is a subsidiary of the JK Lakshmi Cement Limited. Since its inception, the company is committed towards boosting sustainability through adopting the latest art of technology designs, resource efficient equipment and various in-house innovations. We are giving thrust upon renewable and clean energy sources for our cement manufacturing. Solar Power and Waste Heat Recovery based power are our key ingredients for total power mix.

What impact does cement production have on the environment? Elaborate the major areas affected.
The major environmental concern areas during cement production are air emissions through point and nonpoint sources due to plant operation and emissions from mining operation, from material transport, carbon emissions through process, transit, noise pollution, vibration during mining, natural resource depletion, loss of biodiversity and change in landscape.
India is the second largest cement producer in the world. The Indian cement industry is well known for its energy and natural resource efficiency worldwide. The Indian cement industry is a frontrunner for implementing significant technology measures to ensure a greener future.
The cement industry is an energy intensive and significant contributor to climate change. Cement production contributes greenhouse gases directly and indirectly into the atmosphere through calcination and use of fossil fuels in an energy form. The industry believes in a circular economy by utilising alternative fuels for making cement. Cement companies are focusing on major areas of energy efficiency by adoption of technology measures, clinker substitution by alternative raw material for cement making, alternative fuels and green and clean energy resources. These all efforts are being done towards environment protection and sustainable future.
Nowadays, almost all cement units have a dry manufacturing process for cement production, only a few exceptions where wet manufacturing processes are in operation. In the dry manufacturing process, water is used only for the purpose of machinery cooling, which is recirculated in a closed loop, thus, no polluted water is generated during the dry manufacturing process.
We should also accept the fact that modern life is impossible without cement. However, through state-of-the-art technology and innovations, it is possible to mitigate all kinds of pollution without harm to the environment and human beings.

Tell us about the impact blended cement creates on the environment and emission rate.
Our country started cement production in 1914. However, it was introduced in the year 1904 at a small scale, earlier. Initially, the manufacturing of cement was only for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). In the 1980s, the production of blended cement was introduced by replacing fly ash and blast furnace slag. The production of blended cement increased in the growth period and crossed the 50 per cent in the year 2004.
The manufacturing of blended cement results in substantial savings in the thermal and electrical energy consumption as well as saving of natural resources. The overall consumption of raw materials, fossil fuel such as coal, efficient burning and state-of-the-art technology in cement plants have resulted in the gradual reduction of emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). Later, the production of blended cement was increased in manifolds.
If we think about the growth of blended cement in the past few decades, we can understand how much quantity of , (fly ash and slag) consumed and saved natural resources like limestone and fossil fuel, which were anyhow disposed of and harmed the environment. This is the reason it is called green cement. Reduction in the clinker to cement ratio has the second highest emission reduction potential i.e., 37 per cent. The low carbon roadmap for cement industries can be achieved from blended cement. Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and Composite Cement are already approved by the National Agency BIS.
As far as kilogram CO2 per ton of cement emission concerns, Portland Slag Cement (PSC) has a larger potential, other than PPC, Composite Cement etc. for carbon emission reduction. BIS approved 60 per cent slag and 35 per cent clinker in composition of PSC. Thus, clinker per centage is quite less in PSC composition compared to other blended cement. The manufacturing of blended cement directly reduces thermal and process emissions, which contribute high in overall emissions from the cement industry, and this cannot be addressed through adoption of energy efficiency measures.
In the coming times, the cement industry must relook for other blended cement options to achieve a low carbon emissions road map. In near future, availability of fly ash and slag in terms of quality and quantity will be reduced due to various government schemes for low carbon initiatives viz. enhance renewable energy sources, waste to energy plants etc.
Further, it is required to increase awareness among consumers, like individual home builders or large infrastructure projects, to adopt greener alternatives viz. PPC and PSC for more sustainable
resource utilisation.

What are the decarbonising efforts taken by your organisation?
India is the world’s second largest cement producer. Rapid growth of big infrastructure, low-cost housing (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna), smart cities project and urbanisation will create cement demand in future. Being an energy intensive industry, we are also focusing upon alternative and renewable energy sources for long-term sustainable business growth for cement production.
Presently, our focus is to improve efficiency of zero carbon electricity generation technology such as waste heat recovery power through process optimisation and by adopting technological innovations in WHR power systems. We are also increasing our capacity for WHR based power and solar power in the near future. Right now, we are sourcing about 50 per cent of our power requirement from clean and renewable energy sources i.e., zero carbon electricity generation technology. Usage of alternative fuel during co-processing in the cement manufacturing process is a viable and sustainable option. In our unit, we are utilising alternative raw material and fuel for reducing carbon emissions. We are also looking forward to green logistics for our product transport in nearby areas.
By reducing clinker – cement ratio, increasing production of PPC and PSC cement, utilisation of alternative raw materials like synthetic gypsum/chemical gypsum, Jarosite generated from other process industries, we can reduce carbon emissions from cement manufacturing process. Further, we are looking forward to generating onsite fossil free electricity generation facilities by increasing the capacity of WHR based power and ground mounted solar energy plants.
We can say energy is the prime requirement of the cement industry and renewable energy is one of the major sources, which provides an opportunity to make a clean, safe and infinite source of power which is affordable for the cement industry.

What are the current programmes run by your organisation for re-building the environment and reducing pollution?
We are working in different ways for environmental aspects. As I said, we strongly believe that we all together can make a difference. We focus on every environmental aspect directly / indirectly related to our operation and surroundings.
If we talk about air pollution in operation, every section of the operational unit is well equipped with state-of-the-art technology-based air pollution control equipment (BagHouse and ESP) to mitigate the dust pollution beyond the compliance standard. We use high class standard PTFE glass fibre filter bags in our bag houses. UCWL has installed the DeNOx system (SNCR) for abatement of NOx pollution within norms. The company has installed a 6 MW capacity Waste Heat Recovery based power plant that utilises waste heat of kiln i.e., green and clean energy source. Also, installed a 14.6 MW capacity solar power system in the form of a renewable energy source.
All material transfer points are equipped with a dust extraction system. Material is stored under a covered shed to avoid secondary fugitive dust emission sources. Finished product is stored in silos. Water spraying system are mounted with material handling point. Road vacuum sweeping machine deployed for housekeeping of paved area.
In mining, have deployed wet drill machine for drilling bore holes. Controlled blasting is carried out with optimum charge using Air Decking Technique with wooden spacers and non-electric detonator (NONEL) for control of noise, fly rock, vibration, and dust emission. No secondary blasting is being done. The boulders are broken by hydraulic rock breaker. Moreover, instead of road transport, we installed Overland Belt Conveying system for crushed limestone transport from mine lease area to cement plant. Thus omit an insignificant amount of greenhouse gas emissions due to material transport, which is otherwise emitted from combustion of fossil fuel in the transport system. All point emission sources (stacks) are well equipped with online continuous emission monitoring system (OCEMS) for measuring parameters like PM, SO2 and NOx for 24×7. OCEMS data are interfaced with SPCB and CPCB servers.
The company has done considerable work upon water conservation and certified at 2.76 times water positive. We installed a digital water flow metre for each abstraction point and digital ground water level recorder for measuring ground water level 24×7. All digital metres and level recorders are monitored by an in-house designed IoT based dashboard. Through this live dashboard, we can assess the impact of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and ground water monitoring.
All points of domestic sewage are well connected with Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and treated water is being utilised in industrial cooling purposes, green belt development and in dust suppression. Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) installed for mine’s workshop. Treated water is reused in washing activity. The unit maintains Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).
Our unit has done extensive plantations of native and pollution tolerant species in industrial premises and mine lease areas. Moreover, we are not confined to our industrial boundary for plantation. We organised seedling distribution camps in our surrounding areas. We involve our stakeholders, too, for our plantation drive. UCWL has also extended its services under Corporate Social Responsibility for betterment of the environment in its surrounding. We conduct awareness programs for employees and stakeholders. We have banned Single Use Plastic (SUP) in our premises. In our industrial township, we have implemented a solid waste management system for our all households, guest house and bachelor hostel. A complete process of segregated waste (dry and wet) door to door collection systems is well established.

Tell us about the efforts taken by your organisation to better the environment in and around the manufacturing unit.
UCWL has invested capital in various environmental management and protection projects like installed DeNOx (SNCR) system, strengthening green belt development in and out of industrial premises, installed high class pollution control equipment, ground-mounted solar power plant etc.
The company has taken up various energy conservation projects like, installed VFD to reduce power consumption, improve efficiency of WHR power generation by installing additional economiser tubes and AI-based process optimisation systems. Further, we are going to increase WHR power generation capacity under our upcoming expansion project. UCWL promotes rainwater harvesting for augmentation of the ground water resource. Various scientifically based WHR structures are installed in plant premises and mine lease areas. About 80 per cent of present water requirement is being fulfilled by harvested rainwater sourced from Mine’s Pit. We are also looking forward towards green transport (CNG/LNG based), which will drastically reduce carbon footprint.
We are proud to say that JK Lakshmi Cement Limited has a strong leadership and vision for developing an eco-conscious and sustainable role model of our cement business. The company was a pioneer among cement industries of India, which had installed the DeNOx (SNCR) system in its cement plant.

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Concrete

NTPC selects Carbon Clean and Green Power for carbon capture facility

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Carbon Clean and Green Power International Pvt. Ltd has been chosen by NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance (NETRA) to establish the carbon capture facility at NTPC Vindhyachal. This facility, which will use a modified tertiary amine to absorb CO2 from the power plant’s flue gas, is intended to capture 20 tonnes of CO2) per day. A catalytic hydrogenation method will eventually be used to mix the CO2 with hydrogen to create 10 tonnes of methanol each day. For NTPC, capturing CO2 from coal-fired power plant flue gas and turning it into methanol is a key area that has the potential to open up new business prospects and revenue streams.

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