Concrete

Nuvoco strong core values

Published

7 years ago

January 10, 2020

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Nuvoco Vistas is a leading manufacturer and retailer of building materials in India, offering a diversified business portfolio under three broad business segments, namely, cement, ready-mix concrete (RMX) that enjoys a pan-India presence, and modern building materials (MBM).

Guided by one of the core values, care; Nuvoco has always made a responsible and sustainable contribution to the society in which it operates to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all its stakeholders. Nuvoco’s corporate social responsibility initiatives focus on five themes; namely, Surakshit Bharat (safety), Swasth Bharat (health), Shikshit Bharat (education), Saksham Bharat (livelihood) and Sanrachit Bharat (infrastructure development) through which we have reached out to 1,98,000 people across 103 villages.

Surakshit Bharat (safety): Keeping safety at the heart of all that we do, through this initiative, we are able to build awareness on safety (on the road and at home) and endeavours to stimulate behavioural change in the communities living in the close proximity of our operating units. We also extend support towards building a safer world while addressing issues like waste management in the villages and promoting the ban of single-use plastic while showcasing its harmful effects on the environment.

Swasth Bharat (health): Focus is to provide access to primary health care, improved sanitation and safe drinking water to the communities and addressing the needs of adolescent girls. Under the flagship program, project Angan we have adopted more than 170 Anganwadis across locations that promotes joyful learning for children and improving overall service delivery of Anganwadis especially focusing on mother and child health. Continuing our focus, Swasth Matritva is another such project where we have provided mobile ante-natal care (ANC) check-up kits integrated with a mobile app to the government health workers in rural areas. Through this kit, they were able to conduct regular ANC checkups, even during COVID-19 times, and thus contributing towards safe motherhood. We have also helped form girls health groups focusing on adolescent girls; one of its major activities is to promote the use of sanitary pads to maintain hygiene during menstruation. We have also been able to provide preventive healthcare facilities, free medical and health check-up camps and spread awareness on WASH (water sanitation and hygiene) in schools.

Shikshit Bharat (education): The focus of this initiative, is to provide access to new-age education facilities in government schools to improve the quality of education. We have been supporting approx 50 government school across locations by installing smart classes and providing better infrastructure facilities and special health care facilities for girls (construction of toilets and installation of sanitary pad dispenser and incinerator in girls toilet, etc.) in schools. Through our project Shikshit Sunderhattu (winner of FICCI CSR Jury Award 2018-19 for education) in Jamshedpur, we were able to establish "Birsa Prathmik Vidyalaya" through community participation and educate the tribal children of the Sunderhattu and Sarenbera villages, which have shaped the lives of more than 500 tribal children by bringing them into mainstream education.

Saksham Bharat (livelihood): This initiative focuses on diversifying livelihood by imparting new skills to the youth and women to enable them to become self-reliant. Projects like Aakriti (a women enterprise for garment manufacturing) and Samridhi (women group-led initiative for mushroom cultivation) have helped to accelerate progress towards the economic empowerment of rural women. These projects were also awarded FICCI CSR Awards – 2016 and 2017, respectively. Project Aakriti transformed itself from a training center to a garment manufacturing centre with turnover of more than 35 lakh per annum and supporting livelihood of more than 500 women across locations. While Project Smariddhi in West Bengal is providing additional livelihood support to more than 100 women members. Other skill development programs like computer training, bag making, food processing are also some of the initiatives looked upon.

Sanrachit Bharat (infrastructure development): Through this initiative, we have been working towards improving the quality of life by developing community infrastructure through the construction and repair of roads and providing safe drinking water through pond distillation and rainwater harvesting. We were also able to refurbish the school buildings, build community centers, improve drainage systems in villages and conduct tree plantations in communities and villages where we operate.

While the world was grappling with a situation that off-guarded everyone and pervaded every facet of our lives; Nuvoco ensured that all its stakeholders, not limited to its employees were safe and secure. Our employees came forward to support the channel partners (dealers and sub-dealers) and the local communities by contributing a day’s salary. Plant teams and their families came ahead to support the nearby villages by producing and distributing face masks, food packets, and other essential services. Nuvocans’ combined were able to distribute approximately 12,000 safety kits comprising of N95 mask, cotton mask, face shield and temperature scanners in the east and north markets and to the local district administration across locations. They also supported in installing approximately 750 hand wash stations (a foot-operated washbasin developed in-house that enables people to avoid handling taps or soap dispensers) at public places in Jharkhand, Bengal and Chhattisgarh markets and donated a ventilator machine at the government hospital in Janjgir Champa district of Chhattisgarh.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joydeep Chatterjee, Chief of CSR & Corporate Affairs at Nuvoco.

BLURB
Nuvoco’s CSR initiatives focus on five themes; namely, Surakshit Bharat (safety), Swasth Bharat (health), Shikshit Bharat (education), Saksham Bharat (livelihood) and Sanrachit Bharat (infrastructure development).

Concrete

Lokesh Lays Stone For Rs 31 Billion Cement Unit In Kadapa

Line-2 expansion to make Kadapa a major cement hub

Published

4 days ago

July 20, 2026

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Andhra Pradesh Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the Line-2 expansion of Dalmia Bharat Cement at Chinnakomerla village in Mylavaram Mandal in Kadapa district. The project carries an investment of Rs 31 billion (bn) and is slated for completion by the third quarter of the financial year 2028. The expansion is intended to boost industrial growth and employment generation across the Rayalaseema region.

Once commissioned, the Kadapa facility will become Dalmia Bharat’s largest integrated cement manufacturing ecosystem in southern India, creating over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs and opening new business avenues for regional micro, small and medium enterprises and transport operators. Lokesh said the expansion signalled growing corporate confidence in the state and reflected the practical ease of doing business that secured repeat investment.

He placed the project within the government’s wider economic targets and recalled the Yuvagalam padayatra commitment to generate two million (mn) jobs within five years, noting that the state would cultivate talent while industry created opportunities. Lokesh highlighted Andhra Pradesh’s competitive pursuit of major manufacturing accounts, mentioning past successes and a personal initiative to engage global investors when persuading them to anchor expansion in the state.

The plant will leverage Kadapa’s abundant limestone reserves to scale production and sustainability. Clinker capacity is planned to rise from two point five million tonnes per annum (mn tpa) to six point one mn tpa, while overall cement output will increase from three point six mn tpa to nine point six mn tpa. The unit is designed to operate on over eighty per cent renewable energy and deploy waste heat recovery, zero liquid discharge, water recycling and advanced AI systems to optimise efficiency. Industries Minister TG Bharat, BC Welfare Minister S. Savitha and Jammalamadugu MLA C. Adinarayana Reddy attended the ceremony.

Concrete

Cement Prices to Stay Flat in Q2 FY27 as Costs Squeeze Margins

HDFC Securities warns monsoon slowdown and higher fuel costs

Published

1 week ago

July 17, 2026

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HDFC Securities has said the cement industry is unlikely to register a sequential increase in prices in Q2 FY27 as monsoon-related demand moderation coincides with rising fuel and packaging costs that will squeeze margins. The brokerage observed that price gains remained modest, with increases of two to three per cent quarter-on-quarter across regions, and noted subdued offtake in May with improvement in June as a delayed monsoon supported construction activity. The brokerage added that modest pricing gains so far have been insufficient to offset the input cost escalation.

The report stated that input cost pressures intensified in Q1 FY27 owing to the West Asia conflict, which pushed up coal and pet coke prices and is expected to keep fuel costs elevated, with a likely peak in Q2 FY27. It assessed that total variable costs, including packing, could rise by around Rs 150 per t quarter-on-quarter and that lower offtake and seasonal operating deleverage could further raise operating expenditure by about Rs 50 per t quarter-on-quarter.

Overall, cement prices were estimated to remain flat in Q2 FY27 as monsoon-led demand weakness offsets limited upside in realisation, and rising fuel costs alongside seasonal deleverage were expected to compress industry margins by over Rs 100 per t quarter-on-quarter to below Rs 880 per t. The brokerage indicated that the combined impact of energy inflation and higher packing expenditure would be the principal drivers of margin contraction in the near term. HDFC Securities projected a recovery in margins in H2 FY27 should the West Asia turmoil subside and energy and packing costs cool off.

The brokerage expressed optimism on long-term demand fundamentals and said improving realisation together with an anticipated cost cool-off should support a margin rebound from H2 FY27 onward, underpinning favourable industry prospects over the medium term. Its outlook rests on monsoon normalisation and a decline in imported fuel prices in the second half of the fiscal year.

Concrete

Dalmia Bharat Begins Rs 31 Bn Green Cement Unit in Kadapa

New Andhra Pradesh plant to add 9.6 MTPA cement capacity by FY28

Published

1 week ago

July 16, 2026

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Dalmia Bharat Limited recently laid the foundation stone for its second manufacturing unit at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. The company will invest Rs 31 billion in developing the next-generation integrated cement manufacturing facility.

The foundation-laying ceremony was attended by Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Real-Time Governance and Human Resources Development, along with Puneet Dalmia, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dalmia Bharat, senior government officials and company representatives.

Scheduled to be commissioned by the third quarter of FY28, the Kadapa unit will become Dalmia Bharat’s largest integrated manufacturing facility in southern India. It will have a clinker production capacity of 6.1 million tonnes per annum and a cement manufacturing capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per annum.

The facility is designed to produce what the company describes as one of the world’s greenest cements. It is also expected to generate approximately 1,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities while supporting local MSMEs, transporters, contractors and service providers.

Lokesh said the investment reflected Dalmia Bharat’s confidence in Andhra Pradesh and aligned with the state’s objective of promoting sustainable industrialisation, job creation and technology-led economic growth.

Puneet Dalmia said the project represented the company’s long-term vision of developing low-carbon cement manufacturing assets. He added that the facility would establish new benchmarks in operational efficiency and sustainability while supporting India’s infrastructure and environmental goals.

Dalmia Bharat will also expand its regional community development programmes in education, healthcare, skill development and welfare through its DIKSHa and Gram Parivartan initiatives.

The company currently has an installed cement manufacturing capacity of 54.7 million tonnes across 19 manufacturing units in 12 states. It is also the first cement company globally to commit to the RE100, EP100 and EV100 initiatives.