Economy & Market

Influencers play a major role in distribution channels

Published

7 years ago

January 3, 2019

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Strategy-wise, focussing on a particular region can work in favour of the cement manufacturers to improve its market share, however, according to Nilesh Narwekar, CEO, JSW Cement, this can happen only with strong network and assured cement demand.

What are the various experiments and innovations being tried out by the company to make their entire distribution channel an exciting proposition?
In terms of consuming segments, we have individual home buyers and small masons and contractors. On the other hand, we also have larger masons, larger contractors and builders. That said, we have direct consumers such as large institutions and large size infrastructure companies. So, this is the entire spectrum in terms of consuming segments.

As I move to institutional or large consumer base, the approach typically is more classic B2B where a company would want to go directly approach large consuming segments and sell product in bulk. These consumers (B2B) understand the economics, the cost benefit and understand the trade. In addition, such consumer base has a specific cement characteristic required for their projects. Here, to sell cement to B2B category, one has to be techno-commercially qualified.

That said, for a consumer base of individual home buyers, small-scale masons, and contractors, we typically have an approach similar to FMCG segment. This is mainly because, this segment is scattered with vast geographical reach. Here we target the primary customer as first point-of-sale.In turn, this consumer base will sell it to the secondary are retailers or sub-dealers. Here, the individual home buyers or the small masons and contractors either buy cement from sub-dealers or primary level.

Now, particularly for this segment, it becomes critical for a cement manufacturer to reach primary and secondary layer as it has a direct logistics bearing, a cost per tonne. That said, it is also necessary how a cement manufacturer attract enough primary and secondary layer to be a part of wanting to sell a particular brand. This is the first aspect.

The second aspect is whether cement manufacturers are able to attract and convince the primary and secondary layer stock cement brands and sell it to the consumers. However, it all depends on how a cement manufacturer services their needs by providing adequate room for margins, creating demand for a particular cement product and keeping the return on investment intact.

But when it comes to these two aspects, how cement manufacturers attract primary and secondary layers? And how critical is to reach them efficiently?
There are different ways in which we can potentially do that. Let me pick the first part. At the end of the day, primary and secondary layers are businessmen. They want to sell a product which is reputed and how this association with the product would uplift the geographic presence. So the onus is on cement player in investing creating adequate amount of demand with awareness for secondary layer, which is critical aspect as the demand for cement products are not as high as FMCG products. An FMCG product’s sales work more on a recall value, however, for cement although the recall values is important, as for a home buyer or contractor it’s a once-in-a-lifetime investment. So here, cement companies should be intelligent enough how to convince consumer to buy a particular cement product.

That is where influencers play a very critical role. As a company what is the kind of connect that the company has in the geography of my primary and secondary customer, what is the kind of connect company has with influencers, how well are they able to establish the connect that in case if consumers wants to come and buy as a influencer, how strongly you recommend a specific product. So it is not as easy as saying just distribute by product one time and everything will happen.

I am yet to here on the kind of innovation taking place in distribution channels…
What we have witnessed is cement manufacturers go around, identifying primary and secondary customers across the geography and apply certain FMCG principles. Here, by creating awareness across the geography for a particular cement brand coupled with adequate demand, influencers play an important role.

So how do I reach primary and secondary layers in a most cost-effective manner?
There are two ways a cement player can do it. Consider this: if cement player’s geography is limited, then it will be more beneficial for the manufacturers to move its cement from source with a best and cheapest route along with efficient transport management. Means, as a cement player, instead of selling my X million tonne in pan-India, the same can be sold in a designated geography. From sales perspective, it will be difficult, but if I have a strong network with assured demand from the region, my market share and volumes will increase in the region. However, it’s a double-edged sword.

Correct! It may backfire too…
But, as a largest cement producer, you have to take risk and protect the interests of your primary and secondary layers. And, that is why I am more emphasising on ensured large distribution channels, resources and off take of cement. The impact in terms of the return that I generate for the rupee that I spend will be much higher here. So everyone gets it intuitively but implementing it is a challenge. This is something which all cement companies in their own way are attempting to do. We are doing, and many other companies are doing.

Meanwhile, RMC, as a medium of the distribution channel is a successful example in western and European countries. Do you think, the same can be a replicated in India? What are the steps need to be addressed to make it more successful?
RMC, as a philosophy, is well estranged in metros and that is how it will grow. But for RMC it’s not an easy cakewalk in India. This is mainly because, if you have an individual home buyers as a consumer segment, RMC will not work out in your favour. RMC can be successful where you have bulk demand. For example, demand for large infrastructure projects. RMC would be more useful for programmes like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, development in eastern region etc., where demand is on a grater scale. Other than this, large metro cities too can chip in its contribution attracting RMC considering skyscraper and envisaged infrastructure projects.

– RAHUL KAMAT

Economy & Market

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

Published

6 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.