Economy & Market

There is cautiousness in the current market

Published

7 years ago

January 11, 2019

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– Devendra Kumar Pandey, Technical Head – RMC Business, UltraTech

It seems the market is seeing a ready mix v/s precast tussle. Is this real, or do you see both co-exist? What are your comments on this?
There is no real tussle. Precast has its own future. And precast, as an industry, is at a very nascent stage. Even though it should have grown faster the current levels, we, as a country, have a different outlook on technology and its adaptation. We have been slow in ready-mix, we have been slow in precast as well. Ready-mix is always ahead in the race, which is very logical. Ready-mix, in one sense, will enable the precast industry to its proper place. So I don’t see them conflicting.

Does that mean these two will co-exist and grow in parallel?
Definitely, and precast industry can be one of the sectors which ready-mix concrete would be catering to. Precast may evolve as one of the growth drivers of concrete mixers.

With global slowdown casting a shadow over Indian industries, especially on the infrastructure segment, where do we stand now?
Infrastructure is a segment that can take out some of the difficulty, which we are in currently. But we are in difficult times, and it’s hard to say when we can see a respite. However, if investments are infused in the infrastructure segment, the possibility is that when infrastructure improves, the cascading effect will automatically pull other sections along with it.

The government had announced stimulus packages in terms of tax rebate and infusion of liquidity etc. How does this going to help the segment?
Well, for the short term, I don’t see any significant change. But in the medium and long term, it can have an impact. But there should be other factors along with these to boost the industry because this in itself is not sufficient. There is a big cash-flow problem in the industry, and the building sector is appalling. The money transactions and the overall cash flow in the industry are very poor. The steps which have been taken till now have had a temporary outlook or the emotional impact. There have to be some more tangible measures for things to really change.

Does that mean you expect more measures from the government to make it more fast-paced?
I’m not an economic expert, so it very hard to say so. The only thing is the current situation requires a change from many directions. We are talking about the overall economic situation and construction segment dependent on that. A close look at the market would reveal that there is a challenging phase in the construction industry. The industry experts, business leaders, and others don’t seem to have a very consistent view of what the solution could be.

Which are the major growth drivers for concrete?
For the ready mix, real estate remains the primary growth driver with commercial and residential construction. At last for the last two years infrastructure has been a significant anchor for ready-mix concrete volumes. That means there were consistence volumes, good payment cycles that was coming. So even though volume-wise it was not the most significant sector, which we are serving; still, it becomes an anchor to have a good kind of order profiles. But now with infrastructure segment also slowing down, you know this is another kind of situation. There is an overall the receivable getting high and the over draft (OD) cycles are longer.

How were the first two quarters for the company?
Though we have grown in volumes but we are not up to mark as per our budgets in comparison to the last year. So we are being cautious as some companies in the industry are getting into a very difficult situation. One need not be only growth conscious but also cautions owing to the market conditions.

Efficiency improvement is a crucial element. What is the improvement we witnessed in the products in the last 3 years in the ready mix concrete industry?
Most of the established ready-mix companies use a computerised system for their process, which are much interconnected. Despatch, mix designs, statistical control, vehicle tracking systems, a combination of such an expert system is being used currently. These are used in order to assure the customer a proper mix combination, adequate degree of control, visibility of delivery is one change. The other difference is the availability of specialised materials today – micro fine cement material, micro-fine fliers, very high range classifiers, integral waterproofing compounds. And as a result, we produce much better concrete.

Devendra Kumar Pandey, Technical Head RMC business in UltraTech, is with the Aditya Birla Group’s Cement division for almost a decade and a half. Before elevating as the head of RMC, he served as Zonal Head- Technical Services for over 11 years. In his previous stint, he was part of RDC concrete as Senior Technical Manager for close to 10 years. Academically, he has a Civil Engineering degree. He also persuaded theological studies from the Maryland Bible College and Seminary.

Economy & Market

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

Published

1 week 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.