Concrete

We thought to introduce an innovative packing in the industry

Published

5 years ago

July 1, 2021

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1. What has been your experience in marketing Bharathi as a brand? What are the challenges?

It was challenging to launch new brand in 2009. Whereas, we have so many established players like multi-nationals, national players, local players & regional players in the market. Since we are coming as a new producer, we have thought of bringing a best consumer accepted product and packing. We have taken 3 important steps to launch this viz. Technology, Superior Quality and Innovative packing.

2. Explain the role played by packaging of cement in brand building. How in your case you have packaged the product? Tell us your experience on different kind of packaging.

During 1980?? cement was sold as a commodity and various companies??were using jute bags initially. After some time, cement packing was partially converted with HDPE bags. There was lot of pilferage in Jute bags. While in HDPE bags pilferage has reduced to some extent.

We thought to introduce an innovative packing in the industry and we have found that PPL bags are used for cement packing in other countries. We decided to pack our cement in PPL, where we used this point as one of our branding slogan. Our branding slogan is ?? times better Bharathi Cement??-

1. German technology

2. Robotic quality control

3. Tamper Proof Packing.

Not only PPL bags, some parts of markets in Tamilnadu, Kerala and Maharashtra use Paper bags also. The Paper bag has also given an impression to customer as better type of packing and it is also tamper proof bags. At present PPL and Paper bags are very well accepted in many markets as a tamper proof packing.

3. As a part of backward integration Bharathi Cement has gone ahead with setting up a production unit for bag manufacturing, what is the philosophy? Do you supply any quantity to other cement companies?

Since we could not get PPL bags in India, we have gone to Austria to set up 6 crores PPL bags manufacturing unit of Star Linger technology. With this we are able to consume 50% to 60% of production for our captive units and balance to other cement companies also.

4. Provide us some information on PP laminated bags and its superiority. Is the unit able to satisfy your entire requirement of bags? What is the superiority of PP laminated bags? Explain in details.

PPL bags have Less pilferage, it cannot be adulterated, once opened it cannot be re-packed / stitched. Bags are tuned to box type which cannot be adulterated and they look striking.

5. One important factor of brand building is advertisement, what medium of advertisement you would suggest? What is the future trend? How do you compare different mediums of advertisement?

Some of the mediums of advertisement are Print, electronic, digital, outdoor like hoardings, wall paintings etc. All these different media will help in brand building. One of the cheapest mode is wall painting. In future, digital branding will prove as most effective communication as it has the ability to spread through various digital channels such as online ads, search engines social media, websites and online activations. So from time to time as per the needs of market we need to adopt different mediums of advertisement.

6. While journey to brand building is fairly long, you need to work with the ad agency with more openness and give them reasonable length of time to do new things? Please comment.

Yes, when you are building best brand, we need to have a reputed AD agency and we can openly implement based on customer feedbacks like long term perspective, network, logistics distribution system etc. Primary role of an Ad agency is the creation of an advertising and marketing plan specific to product and brand. Ad agencies work with our business objectives. They pull all this together to provide a creative and compelling campaign intended to engage the attention of potential customers and get them to buy our product. Ad agency employs its creative team to work on our brand art works and other designs and also produces TVC??. Initially we engaged South Indian Film Star Mr. Suriya as our brand ambassador to popularise product in the market and we produced many films with him which were telecasted accordingly.

As a reputed brand, we have implemented all these factors from inception itself and continue to follow till date.

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About M. Ravinder Reddy, he has over 34 years of experience in cement industry, holds B.com (Hons.) and MBA (Marketing) degree. During his tenure at Priya cement, he had introduced HDPE packing by replacing Jute packing. He joined Bharathi Cement as a Whole-time Director in September 2008, and he heads the company?? sales and marketing operations. He has successfully launched the ??harathi Cement??in premium segment. He is recipient of many national and international awards. In addition, he is an elected Chairman of Cement, Clinkers and Asbestos Cement products panel of CAPEXIL and also Vice President of South India Cement Manufacturer?? Association.

Concrete

UltraTech Cement FY26 PAT Crosses Rs 80 bn

Company reports record sales, profit and 200 MTPA capacity milestone

Published

1 day ago

April 29, 2026

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UltraTech Cement reported record financial performance for Q4 and FY26, supported by strong volumes, higher profitability and improved cost efficiency. Consolidated net sales for Q4 FY26 rose 12 per cent year-on-year to Rs 254.67 billion, while PBIDT increased 20 per cent to Rs 56.88 billion. PAT, excluding exceptional items, grew 21 per cent to Rs 30.11 billion.

For FY26, consolidated net sales stood at Rs 873.84 billion, up 17 per cent from Rs 749.36 billion in FY25. PBIDT rose 32 per cent to Rs 175.98 billion, while PAT increased 36 per cent to Rs 83.05 billion, crossing the Rs 80 billion mark for the first time.

India grey cement volumes reached 42.41 million tonnes in Q4 FY26, up 9.3 per cent year-on-year, with capacity utilisation at 89 per cent. Full-year India grey cement volumes stood at 145 million tonnes. Energy costs declined 3 per cent, aided by a higher green power mix of 43 per cent in Q4.

The company’s domestic grey cement capacity has crossed 200 MTPA, reaching 200.1 MTPA, while global capacity stands at 205.5 MTPA. UltraTech also recommended a special dividend of Rs 2.40 billion per share value basis equivalent to Rs 240.

Concrete

Towards Mega Batching

Optimised batching can drive overall efficiencies in large projects.

Published

2 days ago

April 28, 2026

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India’s pace of infrastructure development is pushing the construction sector to work at a significantly higher scale than previously. Tight deadlines necessitate eliminating concreting delays, especially in large and mega projects, which, in turn, imply installing the right batching plant and ensuring batching is efficient. CW explores these steps as well as the gaps in India’s batching plant market.

Choose well

Large-scale infrastructure and building projects typically involve concrete consumption exceeding 30,000-50,000 cum per annum or demand continuous, high-volume pours within compressed timelines, according to Rahul R Wadhai, DGM – Quality, Tata Projects.

Considering the daily need for concrete, “large-scale concreting involves pouring more than 1,000–2,000 cum per day while mega projects involve more than 3,000 cum per day,” says Satish R Vachhani, Advanced Concrete & Construction Consultant…

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Concrete

Andhra Offers Discom Licences To Private Firms Outside Power Sector

Policy allows firms over 300 MW to seek distribution licences

Published

3 days ago

April 27, 2026

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The Andhra Pradesh government will allow private firms that require more than 300 megawatt (MW) of power to apply for distribution licences, making the state the first to extend such licences beyond the power sector. The policy targets information technology, pharmaceuticals, steel and data centres and aims to reduce reliance on state utilities as demand rises for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Approved applicants will be able to procure electricity directly from generators through power purchase agreements, a change officials said will create more competitive tariffs and reduce supply risk. Licence holders will use the Andhra Pradesh Transmission Company (APTRANSCO) network on payment of charges and will not need a separate distribution network initially.

Licences will be granted under the Electricity Act, 2003 framework, with the Central and State electricity regulators retaining authority over terms and approvals. The recent Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025 sought to lower entry barriers, enable network sharing and encourage competition, while the state commission will set floor and ceiling tariffs where multiple discoms operate.

Industry players and original equipment manufacturers welcomed the policy, saying competitive supply is vital for large data centre investments. Major projects and partnerships such as those involving Adani and Google, Brookfield and Reliance, and Meta and Sify Technologies are expected to benefit as capacity expands in the state.

Analysts noted India’s data centre capacity is forecast to reach 10 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and cited International Energy Agency estimates that global data centre electricity consumption could approach 945 terawatt hours by the same year. A one GW data centre needs an equivalent power allocation and one point five times the water, which authorities equated to 150 billion litres (150 bn litres).

Advisers warned that distribution licences will require close regulation and monitoring to prevent misuse and to ensure tariffs and supply obligations are met. Officials said the policy aims to balance investor requirements with regulatory oversight and could serve as a model for other states.