Economy & Market

The Strategic Link!

Published

7 years ago

January 3, 2019

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The cement industry is at a turning point. As the cement industry is changing, companies are generating value by concentrating on their micromarkets.

India is now the world’s second-largest market for cement after China, both in terms of production and distribution. This has made India an attractive location for investment by incumbents as well as entry by new players. As a result of this investment activity, the sector has seen substantial gains in manufacturing technology, improved product quality, and falling production costs.

Going forward, the Indian cement industry is primed for further growth due to the country’s low cement intensity and strong demand drivers. India’s per capita consumption of cement (at 225 kg) is still far below the global average of over 580kg. It is also significantly lower than other large developing economies like China.This leaves substantial headroom for industry growth in the coming years.

Over the last few years, the cement industry has already pocketed most of the potential benefits from implementing operational best practices at their respective plants. Therefore, the clear challenge for Indian cement companies today is to identify new source of margin improvement. Based on our limited interaction with the industry players, INDIAN CEMENT REVIEW identified three key areas of performance excellence-sales and marketing, next-gen supply chain management and going digital-that can deliver sustained margins for cement players in shifting industry scenario.

The first area of focus for cement players is to achieve excellence in sales and marketing. By taking action on this front, companies can both stimulate demand and improve price realisation to drive margin improvement. A recent report by Kanvic identifies four key elements of sales and marketing where companies currently lag and which can be provide a winning advantage. These elements are improving visibility beyond factory gate, engaging micro-marketing, discounting, and bringing key account management to non-trade customers.

Improving visibility
Often companies are unaware of the actual price at which their products is sold by the trade, or the price at which their competitor sells. As a result of this limited visibility, cement companies bargain power with their channel partners is weakened and they (cement manufacturers) protect their prices. Given the already slim margins in this commodity segment, these blind spots can have a major impact on profitability. Meanwhile, for the individual home buyers, according to Nilesh Narwekar, CEO, JSW Cement, ‘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, he further added: ‘it is also necessary how a cement manufacturer attracts enough primary and secondary layers to be a part of wanting to sell a particular brand.’

In order to improve visibility, cement companies need to implement an effective system for gathering information from the market on a continuous basis and apply it in a decision making. For example, one of the leading cement manufacturers has created a dedicated team whose sole purpose is to gather pricing information on the company and competitor products.

Since the point of sale is the moment of truth, where the products and solutions meet their customers and end-users, for LafargeHolcim, being a business partner to all players in the distribution chain is the key. According to an official, who did not wish to be quoted, ‘We make our products and solutions available at all times, generating additional business for customers as distributors, retailers, and DIY stores.’ He added, ‘We also offer in-store animations, product knowledge, digital platforms, mobile apps, and financing schemes for customers and end-users, including individuals and professionals.’

Incentivising dealers
The dealer networks are extremely important for companies, contributing 70-80 per cent of their sales. So, borrowing a trick or two from credit card loyalty programmes, many companies now have personalised rewards and recognition schemes for their dealers, affiliates and key influencers. These days, companies are wooing dealers with gold, offering scholarship to kids like never before – with some help from data and algorithms. Cement firm Nuvoco (formerly Lafarge India) conducts a national-level singing competition for the family members of its dealers. A high-engagement activity, it gets participation from nearly 42 per cent of its membership base. Nuvoco, besides organising singing competitions, also has accident and health insurance for dealers and their family members. Another, large cement major awards its dealers’ children who have obtained high marks. This is a big hit in the southern and eastern regions, especially.

Discounting factor
With improved price information, cement companies are better placed to bring greater discipline in discounting. Today, as per the report by Kanvic, cement companies lack strategic approach to discounting, often succumbing to the pressure from their channel partners to increase discount to stimulated demand. To counter these profit-eroding practices, companies need to implement the policies and processes that target discount at where they generate the most value for the business.

For example, by shifting from a uniform discounting policy to one that rewards loyalty and achievement of sales goals, cement companies can differentiate between their most profitable channel partners. The implementation of discount policies should also be accompanied by effective checks and balances that prevent abuse of discount.

Micro-marketing
To maximise the effect of their micro marketing and achieve optimal demand fulfillment, cement companies need to move to a micro marketing approach. This involves getting a picture of demand that is much more granular than the regional or state-level focus that prevails today. Instead, Kanvic believes that Indian cement companies need to zoom in to the district level to measure an area’s sales potential and allocate the necessary resource accordingly.

To this, Narwekar suggests a limited geography for cement players to focus on. He adds, ‘With limited geography, cement players can move its product from source with the best and cheapest route along with efficient transport management.’ This will entail cement players selling X million tonnes in pan-India, instead to a designated geography. From sales perspective, it will be difficult but, if a cement company has a strong network with assured demand from the region, its market share and volumes will increase in the region. ‘However, it’s a double-edged sword,’ cautioned Narwekar.

Today, new digital tools can make this quicker and dynamic. For example, last year Kanvic was assigned with a building material company. Kanvic helped its client to implement a tool where is sales force could record construction activity at the ward level in a major city to indicate where upcoming demand would come from. Through this process, the company was able to uncover untapped areas of demand to focus on.

Hence, by building a granular picture of demand in this way, cement companies can deploy their sales force, allocate marketing spend and plan fulfillment most effectively. Furthermore, with a clear understanding of an area’s sales potential, they can set more accurate targets for their sales team and more closely monitor changes in the market share.

Connecting the dots
Although representing a smaller share of sales today, non-trade cement customers will account for an increasing share of business in the years ahead considering a shift in the market towards non-trade. These larger customers will place very different demands on cement companies’ sales volume and marketing due to their more exacting expectations on price, quality and customer service. In order to profitably serve this growing segment, cement companies will need to implement effective system of key account management.

For Rajnish Kapur, Business Head-Grey Cement, JK Cement, the non-trade cement consumers contributes a significant amount to the company’s coffer. He adds: ‘Cement companies needs to ensure that large customers receive a level of service that is in line with the value they bring to the business.’

However, Kanvic believes that the largest customer base are not always the profitable. Key account practices, which only focus on the size of the customer, will often result in leakage of margins. Instead, cement companies need to make the effort to estimate their customer’s lifetime values to predict the profit their account could generate. On this basis, they can segment their key accounts and provide a level of service that is justified by their profitability.

Strategic approach
The second area where cement players can improve profitability is their supply chain management. Traditionally, Indian cement companies have focused on achieving efficiency in manufacturing, however, they have realised significant success by making good progress on key performance indicators (KPIs), relating to plant and people productivity, and cost reduction.

Yet, when it comes to supply chain, which on an average accounts for 20-25 per cent of a cement company’s costs, there has not been the same level of focus. Whenever Indian cement companies have looked at their supply chain, they’ve tended to take a more operational view that focuses on improving dispatch or route planning. However, to make supply chain a driver of profit improvement, cement companies need to take an end-to-end view that connects supply chain with their business strategy.

On the other hand, the faster growing non-trade segment, which comprises of large customers who buy direct, has different needs. Their expectations are for on-time delivery to meet critical project timeline along with lower price per tonne due to their high volume requirements. These expectations demand an efficient supply chain that delivers cement at the lowest cost. But shifting from an asset utilisation mindset to focussing on improving responsiveness or efficiency, cement companies can design a supply chain that improves the business’ bottom-line. Once the design of the supply chain has been aligned with the customer segments, achieving improvements in responsiveness and efficiency will require actions on three fronts: re-evaluating the geographic footprint, implementing data-driven decision making, and bringing supply chain partners on-board.

Geographic footprint
In India’s rapidly-developing market, the demand patterns for cement are constantly shifting. With infrastructure projects and housing developments springing up in new areas, there is a need to regularly re-evaluate the geographic footprint of cement manufacturers’ supply chains to ensure they can fulfil emerging demand responsively and efficiently. This re-evaluation should include mapping the location of warehouses and godowns against demand hotspots. Furthermore, following the implementation of GST, there is further scope to rationalise the supply chain based on actual market needs rather than the earlier focus on State-wise operations.

To this, Rajnish Kapur puts it in a right way. He opines, ‘If a cement manufacturer is able to supply its cement product at the right place at the right time and in the right cost to the customer, then you have an edge over your competitor.’

Data-driven decision making
Achieving substantial gains in supply chain responsiveness and efficiency require cement players to move to data-driven decisionmaking. Only by measuring performance at each and every step it is possible to identify and act on the incremental opportunities for improvement that contribute to supply chain excellence. The first step towards data-driven decision making is to create better visibility of inventory, vehicles and product movement across the supply chain. Some cement weighing trucks at the loading bay installs GPS to track their movements, but a few have taken the integrated approach that is necessary to realise its substantial gains. Instead, there is a need to identify all the points where valuable data can be collected and install sensor technology. Once installed, these sensors need to be interconnected which is now possible at low-cost, thanks to the falling prices and rise of cloud computing. With the data flowing from all sections of the supply chain, one is required to intelligently interpret this information to make correct decisions.

This requires the applications of advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms as well as training people to utilise the generated insights they generate in their day-to-day decisions. As supply chain is a cross-functional aspect of the business, there is a need to integrate personnel from different departments in the decision-making process.

‘By taking this instrumented, interconnected and intelligent approach, cement companies can bring more consistency and a higher level of predictability to their supply chain operations,’ believes Kapur.

Bringing partners on board
Achieving supply chain excellence in the cement industry cannot be done alone. Companies will need to collaborate closely with supply chain partners to realise the potential benefits. This includes working closely with logistics partners to implement technology in their fleet to ensure continuous visibility of product and vehicle movements. Even more importantly, there is a need to establish a joint review and problem-solving mechanism that can quickly flag up and resolve issues and develop creative new solutions to drive further gains. This partnership model requires a mindset shift from the traditionally adversarial relationship, focused on constant price negotiation, to a collaborative approach that rewards performance improvement. Not only with logistics partners, cement companies will also need to work closely with technology providers and analytics experts to design and implement new systems and train people in their use. Companies should bear in mind that technology in this space is evolving rapidly so flexibility and adaptability are the key.

Go digital!
The third area that can contribute to long-term profit improvement in the Indian cement industry is the application of digital at scale. Today, companies are adopting new hardware and software solutions on a piecemeal basis to address specific problems, but a few players are viewing digital as a driver of overall business performance and all are struggling to adopt a truly digital culture.

To realise the potential of digital for their bottom-line, cement companies should make four major changes. Firstly, they need to make digital a priority for the C-suite. Secondly, they need to replace the technology lens with a business outlook. And thirdly, they must invest in digital talent.

Breaking the silo mindset
Finally, to realise the full benefits of digital, there is a need to take an integrated approach across the business. This requires cement companies to break-down the traditional silo mindset that separates functions like production, marketing, and sales. Successful digital transformation ensures all departments have a common understanding of digital and its importance to their function.

C-suite
ICR’s conversation with cement companies has revealed that digital is not yet a priority for C-level executives. In most cases, digital initiatives are usually left to lower levels of the organisation or the IT department, who are tasked with implementing new solutions like CRM. As a consequence, digital fails to become a strategic priority for the business.

To drive digital in a concerted way across the organisation leaders need to place it firmly on the C-suite agenda by discussing it alongside other strategic decisions. Furthermore, it is essential that a digital champion is appointed at a senior level who has the authority to lead the process across functions and with direct accountability to the board. They also have the responsibility of creating firm-level awareness of digital and its importance to the organisation’s future.

To kick-start this process, one large manufacturing organisation conducted a C-level workshop facilitated by external experts who brought an outside perspective on the opportunities and threats digital presented to their business. This helped foster a sense of urgency around digital and successfully brought it onto the board’s agenda.

Thinking beyond technologies
Even in cement companies that have adopted progressive digital initiatives, there is a tendency to see them through the technology lens which limits the field of vision to specific solutions, rather than looking at all encompassing impact of digital across business spectrum.

With digital technologies advancing at a fast pace and customers, even in more conservative B2B organisations – rapidly adopting new buying behaviour, a narrow view of digital will leave cement players exposed to the threat of digital disruption. For example, one leading company successfully deployed drone technology to achieve lower pricing from Indian Railways by ensuring wagons were not overloaded, and thus avoided heavy fines. In another case, the same company implemented an automated fuel management system at its mines through RFID tagging, which ensured fuel was only dispensed to authorised vehicles. However, the real long-term benefits from digital will come when individual initiatives such as these are taken in line with a strategic roadmap to digitalise the business. This approach will help prioritise the areas to digitalise first for maximum business impact and provide a common infrastructure to realise synergies across the business.

Invest in talent
In order to digitalise their business, cement companies will need to attract and retain a different a very different talent profile. Today’s digital talent typically prefer to go to analytics and Internet firms where they can learn and apply cutting-edge techniques. In order to attract this critical talent, cement companies will need to create a compelling value proposition for digital professionals to consider the industry and redefine their role and responsibilities beyond the traditional remit of information technology.

Shifting gears
The Indian cement industry is gradually shifting away from the traditionally dominant trade channel that retails cement bags to large numbers of small customers, and towards non-trade customers like large construction and ready-made concrete (RMC) companies. This trend will accelerate further as sectors like infrastructure and low-cost housing increase their share of cement demand. For example, infrastructure share of demand is projected to rise from around 20 per cent to 25 per cent by 2020. These segments will put greater pressure on price realisation through their desire to keep costs low and the high level of bargaining power that comes with a large scale of projects.

Here both Narwekar from JSW Cement and Kapur from JK Lakshmi believe that the demand for RMC as a channel will grow only if there is a economy of scale. RMC would be more useful for programmes like Bharatmala, and Sagarmala.

– RAHUL KAMAT

Concrete

PROMECON introduces infrared-based tertiary air measurement system for cement kilns

Published

10 hours ago

May 20, 2026

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The new solution promisescontinuous, real-time tertiary air flow measurement in cement plant operations.

PROMECON GmbH has launched the McON IR Compact, an infrared-based measuring system designed to deliver continuous, real-time tertiary air flow measurement in cement plant operations. The system addresses the longstanding process control challenge of accurate tertiary air monitoring under extreme kiln conditions. It uses patented infrared time-of-flight measurement technology that operates without calibration or maintenance intervention.

Precise tertiary air measurement is a critical requirement for stable rotary kiln operation. The McON IR Compact is engineered to function reliably at temperatures up to 1,200°C and in the presence of abrasive clinker dust. Its vector-based digital measurement architecture ensures that readings remain unaffected by swirl, dust deposits or drift. Due to these conditions conventional measurement systems in pyroprocess environments are often compromised.

The system is fully non-intrusive and requires no K-factors, recalibration or periodic readjustment, enabling years of uninterrupted operation. This design directly supports plant availability and reduces the maintenance overhead typically associated with process instrumentation in high-temperature zones.

PROMECON has deployed the McON IR Compact at multiple cement facilities, including Warta Cement in Poland. Plant operators report that the system has aided in identifying blockages, optimising purging cycles for gas burners, and supplying accurate flow data for AI-based process optimisation programmes. The practical outcomes include more stable kiln operation, improved process control, and earlier detection of process disturbances.

On the energy side, real-time tertiary air data enables reduction in induced draft fan load and helps flatten process oscillations across the pyroprocess. This translates to lower fuel and energy consumption, fewer unplanned shutdowns, and a measurable reduction in NOx peaks. This directly reflects on the downstream cost implications for plants operating SCR or SNCR systems for emissions compliance.

Concrete

Filtration Technology is Critical for Efficient Logistics

Published

5 days ago

May 15, 2026

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Niranjan Kirloskar, MD, Fleetguard Filters, makes the case that filtration technology, which has been long treated as a routine consumable, is in fact a strategic performance enabler across every stage of cement production and logistics.

India’s cement industry forms the core for infrastructure growth of the country. With an expected compound annual growth rate of six to eight per cent, India has secured its position as the second-largest cement producer globally. This growth is a result of the increasing demand across, resulting in capacity expansion. Consequently, cement manufacturers are now also focusing on running the factories as efficiently as possible to stay competitive and profitable.
While a large portion of focus still remains on production technologies and capacity utilisation, the hidden factor in profitability is the efficiency of cement logistics. The logistics alone account for nearly 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the total cost of cement, making efficiency in this segment a key lever for profitability and reliability.
In the midst of this complex and high-intensity ecosystem, filtration often remains one of the most underappreciated yet essential enablers of performance.

A demanding operational landscape
Cement production and logistics inherently operate in some of the harshest industrial environments. With processes such as quarrying, crushing, grinding, clinker production, and bulk material handling expose the machinery to constant high temperatures, heavy loads, and dust, often the silent destructive force for engines.
The ecosystem is abrasive, and often one with a high contamination index. These challenging conditions demand equipment such as the excavators, crushers, compressors, and transport vehicles to perform and perform efficiently. The continuous exposure to contamination across every aspect like air, fuel, lubrication, and even hydraulic systems causes long-term damage. Studies have also shown that 70 to 80 per cent of hydraulic system failures are directly linked to contamination, while primary cause of engine wear is inadequate air filtration.
For engines as heavy as these, even a minor contaminant has a cascading effect; reducing efficiency, performance and culminating to unplanned downtime. Particles as small as 5 to 10 microns, far smaller than a human hair (~70 microns), can cause significant damage to critical engine components. In an industry where margins are closely linked to operational efficiency, such disruptions can significantly affect both cost structures and delivery timelines.

Dust management: A persistent challenge
Dust is a natural by-product in cement operations. From drilling and blasting in the quarries to packing in plants, this fine particulate matter does occupy a large space in operations. Dust concentration levels in quarry and crushing zones often create extremely high particulate exposure for equipment. These fine particles, when enter the engines and critical systems, accelerates the wear and tear of the component, affecting directly the operational efficiency. Over time every block fall; engine performance declines, fuel consumption rises, and maintenance cycles shorten. In this case, effective air filtration is the natural first line of defence. Advanced filtration systems are designed to capture high volumes of particulate matter while maintaining consistent airflow, ensuring that engines and equipment operate under optimal conditions.
In high-dust applications, as in cement production, even the filtration systems are expected to sustain performance over extended periods without the need of frequent replacement. This becomes crucial in remote quarry locations where access to frequent maintenance may be limited.

Fluid cleanliness and system integrity
Beyond air filtration, fluid systems also play a crucial role for equipment reliability in cement operations. Fuel systems are required to remain free from contaminants for efficient working of combustion and injection protection. Additionally, lubrication systems also need to maintain the oil purity to reduce friction and prevent any premature wear of moving parts. The hydraulic systems, which are key to several heavy equipment operations, are especially sensitive to contamination.
If fine particles or water enters these systems, it can lead to reduced efficiency, erratic performance, and eventual failure of the system. Modern filtration systems are designed with high-efficiency media capable of removing extremely fine contaminants, with advanced fuel and oil filtration solutions filtering particles as small as two to five microns. Multi-stage filtration systems further ensure that fluid performance is maintained even under challenging operating conditions.
Another critical aspect of fuel systems is water separation. Removing moisture helps prevent corrosion, improves combustion efficiency and enhances overall engine reliability. Modern water separation technologies can achieve over 95 per cent efficiency in removing water from fuel systems.

Ensuring reliability across the value chain
Filtration plays a critical role across every stage of cement logistics:
• Quarry operations: Equipment operates in highly abrasive environments, requiring strong protection against dust ingress and hydraulic contamination.
• Processing units: Crushers, kilns, and grinding mills depend on clean lubrication and cooling systems to sustain continuous operations.
• Material handling systems: Pneumatic and mechanical systems rely on clean air and fluid systems for efficiency and reliability.
• Transportation networks: Bulk carriers and trucks must maintain engine health and fuel efficiency to ensure timely deliveries.
Across these operations, filtration plays a vital role; as it supports consistent equipment performance while reducing the risk of unexpected failures.
Effective filtration solutions can reduce unscheduled equipment failures by 30 to 50 per cent across heavy-duty operations.

Uptime as a strategic imperative
In cement manufacturing, uptime is currency. Downtime not only delays the production, but it also greatly impacts the supply commitments and logistics planning. With the right filtration systems, contaminants are kept at bay from entering the
critical systems, and they also significantly extend the service intervals.
Optimised filtration can extend service intervals by 20 to 40 per cent, reducing maintenance frequency while maintaining consistent performance across demanding operating conditions. Filtration systems designed for heavy-duty applications sustain efficiency throughout their lifecycle, ensuring reliable protection with minimal interruptions. This leads to improved equipment availability, lower maintenance costs, and more predictable operations, with well-maintained systems capable of achieving uptime levels of over 90 to 95 per cent in challenging cement environments.

Supporting emission and sustainability goals
With the rising environmental awareness, the cement industry too is aligning with the stricter norms and sustainability targets. In this scenario, the operational efficiency is directly linked to emission control.

Air and fuel systems that are clean enable
much more efficient combustion. They also reduce emissions from both the stationary equipment and transport fleets. Similarly, with a well-maintained fluid cleanliness, emission systems function better. Poor combustion due to contamination can increase emissions by 5 to 10 per cent, making clean systems critical for compliance.
Additionally, efficient and longer lasting filtration systems significantly reduce any waste generation and contribute to increased sustainable maintenance practices. Extended-life filtration solutions can reduce filter disposal and maintenance waste by 15 to 20 per cent. Smart and efficient filtration in this case plays an important role in meeting the both regulatory and environmental objectives within the industry.

Advancements in filtration technology
Over the years, there has been a significant evolution in the filtration technology to meet the modern industrial applications.
Key developments include:
• High-efficiency filtration media capable of capturing very fine particles without restricting flow
• Compact and integrated designs that combine multiple filtration functions
• Extended service life solutions that reduce replacement frequency and maintenance downtime
• Application-specific engineering tailored to different stages of cement operations
Modern multi-layer filtration media can improve dust-holding capacity by up to two to three times compared to conventional systems, while maintaining consistent performance. These advancements have transformed filtration from a basic maintenance component into a critical performance system.

Adapting to diverse operating conditions
The cement industry of India operates across diverse geographies. Spanning across regions with arid regions with higher dust levels, to the coastal areas with higher humidity, challenges of each region pose different threats to the engines. Modern filtration systems are thus tailored to address these unique challenges of each region.
Indian operating environments often range from 0°C to over 50°C, with some of the highest dust loads globally in mining zones.
Additionally, filtration technology can also be customised to variations which then align the system design with factors like dust load, temperature, and equipment usage patterns. Equipment utilisation levels in India are typically higher than global averages, making robust filtration even more critical. This approach ensures optimal performance and durability across different operational contexts.

Impact on total cost of ownership
Filtration has a direct and measurable impact on the total cost of ownership of equipment.
Effective filtration leads to:
• Lower wear and tear on critical components
• Reduced maintenance and repair costs
• Improved fuel efficiency
• Extended equipment life
• Higher operational uptime
Effective filtration can extend engine life by 20 to 30 per cent and reduce overall maintenance costs by 15 to 25 per cent over the equipment lifecycle. These benefits collectively enhance productivity and reduce lifecycle costs. Conversely, inadequate filtration can result in frequent breakdowns, increased maintenance expenditure, and reduced asset utilisation.

Building a more efficient cement ecosystem
With the rising demand across various sectors, the cement industry is expected to expand at an unprecedented rate. This growth is forcing the production to move towards a more efficient and resilient system of operations. This requires attention not only to production technologies but also to the supporting systems that enable consistent performance. Filtration must be viewed as a strategic investment rather than a routine consumable. By ensuring the cleanliness of air and fluids across systems, it supports reliability, efficiency, and sustainability.

The road ahead
The future of cement logistics will be shaped by increasing mechanisation, digital monitoring, and stricter environmental standards. The industry is also witnessing a shift towards predictive maintenance and condition monitoring, where filtration performance is increasingly integrated with real-time equipment diagnostics.
In this evolving landscape, the role of filtration will become even more critical. As equipment becomes more advanced and operating conditions more demanding, the need for precise contamination control will continue to grow. From quarry to construction site, filtration technology underpins the performance of every critical system. It enables equipment to operate efficiently, reduces operational risks, and supports the industry’s broader goals of growth and sustainability. In many ways, it is the unseen force that keeps the cement ecosystem moving, quietly ensuring that every link in the value chain performs as expected.

About the author
Niranjan Kirloskar, Managing Director, Fleetguard Filters, is focused on driving innovation, operational excellence, and long-term business growth through strategic and people-centric leadership. With a strong foundation in ethics and forward-thinking decision-making, he champions a culture of collaboration, accountability, and technological advancement.

Concrete

Cement’s Next Fuel Shift

Published

6 days ago

May 15, 2026

admin

Jignesh Kindaria highlights how Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) is emerging as a critical lever for cost savings, decarbonisation and competitive advantage in the cement industry.

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.