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Cement companies can realise major savings in freights by conducting periodic…

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Venkatesh Hariharan, Director and Co-founder of Audex Solutions & Technology.

The cement industry is yet to appreciate the full potential of freight audits. The industry must allow a third party auditor to look into their processes and come up with saving estimates. There is huge scope for savings in logistics and a thorough freight audit will show you where it lies, says Venkatesh Hariharan, Director and Co-founder of Audex Solutions & Technology. In an exclusive chat with ICR, Venkatesh elaborates on the efficacy of freight auditing to reduce logistical expenses.

Tell us about your organisation and your services.
Audex as an organisation is fairly young; we have been in this field from last three years. Audex Solutions is primarily a logistics consulting and a software applications provider. As consultants, we can conduct audit programs of logistics operations to identify areas of improvement. Audex Solutions provides business process strategies to control and save on the monthly spend on freight bills, especially when the transaction volumes are high.

On the technology front we offer apps such as warehousing solutions, transportation solutions, fleet management , GPS based vehicle tracking and freight forwarding solutions to our clients. We also offer customer billing solutions to 3PL companies across all their services offerings, which makes us unique amongst all the Indian vendors in the market in the sense that we carry all the execution related applications well suited to the logistics service providing industry.

What is the current level of logistics processes automation in the industry?
Several companies are mistaking financial process automation to be logistics automation. There is a lot that happens between an order and the payables. Automating financial processes alone cannot improve efficiency of the logistics processes. Automation of logistics execution processes including services vendor contracting, when combined with good monitoring, will yield fantastic results.

What are the pain points of managing a cement supply chain?
Today the logistics industry is in a highly fragmented state. There are many players in the field that subcontract logistical activities to other vendors. These logistics companies actually act as service aggregators. Typically, a company outsourcing logistics services too, has to tie together several vendors to serve separate functions in a supply chain. Management of these functions is a mammoth task. Billing and documentation becomes a big challenge since half the solution will be with you and the other half somewhere else. You have to keep a track of your own in-house assets as well as your subcontractor assets. When tonnes of paperwork are generated and you have to churn them out of the system as soon as possible, you will not have sufficient time to investigate each and every bill. Another challenge is to organise the transportation service providers.

Besides this, the cement industry has its own set of peculiar troubles. The industry has been growing well in the last decade. Unfortunately, the cost of manufacture and transport too is on the rise. Compared to other industries, cement has the highest logistics cost as percentage of sales. The cost of freight has been rising due to the increase in oil prices. The transportation cost by truck over a period of the last ten years has increased by nearly 50%. In India, the transportation cost of cement is around Rs. 1.03 or Rs. 1.04 per tonne kilometer.

Last mile delivery too, is a challenge in the whole SCM. In India, cement is transported in 50 kg bags. Bags are generally available in developed economies in retail or wholesale DIY kit shops; India probably is amongst the few countries where cement is distributed in bags for commercial use, a mode of distribution that is slow, cumbersome and expensive. The loading and unloading of bags, unavailability of labour force, etc slows down the processes significantly. The cost rises when the material is unloaded and carried on road for further distance. If the material is purchased from or taken to the hinterland, transportation cost by road increases further.

Dependency on the railways network has gone up considerably due to the hike in the diesel prices. The delivery cost of the cement to most of the big consumer centres, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and villages have been affected by rising railway transportation cost, both for input materials like coal and gypsum and more glaringly for clinker and cement. There is dire need to set up transportation and logistics hubs near cement loading and unloading areas. Infrastructure is very weak in India.

In the cement industry, goods move in one direction. Clinker is carried from the mines to the plant and the cement is carried from the plant to the market, and the trucks are empty on their return journey. How can we benefit from the return journey, too?
While dealing with products from FMCG or let’s say from automobiles industry, we can try to maximise returns on all trips. We can carry multiple types of goods in the same vehicle to cash in on the return journey. However, one has to choose only materials that would not have compatibility issue.

We can’t do this with cement. You cannot carry anything else in containers or trucks used for cement. Contamination of the material or even visible marks on cement bag from previously carried material will not be accepted by the buyer. When it comes to transportation by road, the trucks are dedicated and the amount is paid up to posses the vehicle for transportation. These are basically rented vehicles from a transport service provider. The amount is not dependent on whether the truck was used or not. It is paid up for a specific period.

So how can we utilise the fleet effectively?
Improving visibility goes a long way to help fleet utilisation. Let me elaborate. You must have seen that several cement companies have a long queue of trucks parked at the gates. Only half of those would be paid up by the company and belong to the company’s dedicated fleet, the rest are for what we call æspot buying.’ These trucks are used when the dedicated vehicle is not available and an urgent delivery has to be made. The logistics manager decides based on the cost and benefit of sending the consignment via the non-fleet truck. The truck hired from the market will charge more but if the consignment has to go, then the manager has no other option. Here is the opportunity for improvement. Managers are rarely aware about the location and availability of their own dedicated fleet. This forces the manager to opt for what is visible to him at that particular point. If logistics managers can track their trucks, they can use the fleet effectively. They will be able to gauge when they will have free trucks at the warehouse and which truck is at what stage in transit. They can even re-route the consignment when needed. In India, that average utilisation of the dedicated fleet is around only 60 per cent. 40 per cent of the paid for fleet remains unused due to lack of visibility.

Although cement sector is seen as a modern and technologically well developed industry, we have a long way to go when it comes to modernization of logistic processes. Very few encourage GPS based systems for tracking vehicles or for freight payouts

So having GPS system is the way to go?
Having GPS alone is not going to help. Apart from having geo-tagging devices, one needs to have well-trained staff to monitor the movement and take action on events monitored. Imagine hundreds of vehicles as dots on the map. You will have to know what is coming, what is going and where is it going. GPS solutions provided by us show more than just a mere dot on the map. If a vehicle goes off-the-grid or diverts from the planned route, an alert is sent to the regional manager, transportation manager in every state and also to the head office. You should have a good monitoring group to have good monitoring mechanism in order to reap real benefits from the tracking system. The visibility will help managers to know the exact number of vehicles available to them at any given point. Even a 10 per cent rise in fleet utilisation makes a huge impact on the bottomline. Managers must realize that efficiency could be built by having more visibility, not only by having more vehicles. Another aspect to GPS based tracking is whether it is linked to vendor payables. The vendor payout process if linked to kilometers traveled can get completely automated, can be error free – if integrated to GPS based tracking systems.

What are your expectations from the government?
There are certain government interventions that can help reducing the unnecessary spending on logistics. We are facing acute shortage of logistics parks. Logistics parks are large open spaces where logistics companies can have their warehouses, their fleet. Some of the logistic parks also have container depot, customs- bounded warehouses, and so on.

The number of kilometers and the quality of roads should improve. The number of roads built from 2000 to 2010 is less than those built in 1991 and 2000. On the other hand, our dependence on road has increased significantly. Either way we must have a good road network and a good rail network. Our infrastructure when it comes to road, rail and waterways is very weak.

Speaking of waterways, how feasible is it to use the inland waterways for cement transport?
In developed nations such as in European countries and in the Unites States, there are dedicated waterways for freight. There is hardly anything done in order to exploit the inland waterway transport in India. The primary problem is extensive blockages of river ways. The depth of rivers too, should be increased at certain places to make it feasible. At times, rivers run through different states and these different states must come together to have a common policy and goal. More importantly, there has to be a mechanism to ensure that the decongested rivers are not getting blocked again. Using rivers for cargo transport will mean removal of fishing nets from the water body. The government will have to work out ways to ensure that the livelihood of the fishermen is not affected.

Why go for freight audits?
Freight management is a highly document intensive process. Every month, tonnes of paperwork related to dispatch challans and bills are generated. These bills are processed at several points in the supply chain and are checked in a decentralised mode at different manufacturing plant and depots. Organisations end up handling extraordinary amounts of paperwork to manage the fragmented transportation industry’s services. The transport bills processing and related operations alone is voluminous and often a decentralised operation. Freight contracts can be exceedingly complex. Likewise, freight invoices is accompanied by numerous types of required supporting documents.

Once the bills are submitted by the local transporter, they are cleared locally and sent to the head office for clearance. As several of these vehicles are employed based spot-buying decisions, their rates will vary. Different transporters will charge differently for additional services such as for unloading and loading vehicle, for holding the consignment in possession for more than the contracted period, etc. There are high fluctuations in fuel costs. Costs and quotes will vary significantly. Validating the costs is a complex process. Organisations do conduct cost verification checks to keep a tab on the transportation spend. Nevertheless, it should also be noted that freight cost verification exercises are vulnerable to human and process errors. Instead, a well thought out freight audit programme can ensure that an organisation does not overpay for services it used or pay of services it did not even use.

What is your approach?
We begin our work with a testing process on a pilot scale. We select a small representative region and review the paper work related to it. We decide on the intervention steps required and the checkpoints necessary. Once we execute it on a pilot scale, we move on to do verification and efficacy measurement of our new system. We project the impact the new method on the entire freight programme, the contract, the transportation and on the execution cost. Once satisfied with the findings and having made necessary improvements if any, we move on to implement change on a bigger scale.

What are the benefits of this?
Cement companies can realise major savings in freights by conducting periodic freight audits. Auditing gives clarity as to where the majority of spend went for the entire shipping processes. Organisations can also use this information to develop cost cutting strategies that reduce the transportation costs. A best-practice freight audit provides a closed loop process to ensure contract compliance, ensure that freight invoices are paid exactly as prescribed by logistics contracts. Organisations can review and determine if another carrier would have provided more cost-effective transportation service.

How much savings can one expect after conducting a freight audit?
In the cement industry, the biggest cost next to power and fuel is from freight and logistics, accounting up to 18 to 20 per cent. If we are able to reduce this cost even by few per cent, it will make a huge difference. We are spending around 14 per cent of our GDP on logistics. In the United States, it is 9.7 per cent. Imagine the scope for savings in this. The possibilities are huge but I will refrain from quoting big numbers. For many cement companies, the cost of logistics runs in hundreds of crores. Even a two to three per cent saving is a very big deal. A complete audit will reveal the approximate amount of saving one can expect from the revamp.

How much is the expected expense in implementing the new process?
None to insignificant. The cost of having the freight audit done from a third party is very less. However, the returns are very high. You don’t have to install costly gadgetry to get more from the system. Just the insights gained from the audit results and the consultancy given will make a big difference on your company’s bottomline. The finance auditor will only check how much was paid, what are the debts your balance sheet etc. But who will check if the cost was worth it or whether the service had the quality expected? Consulting intervention from logistics experts – adds to efficiency and increases savings.

Tell us about your team. How do you build the capability to audit the process?
First of all, bringing efficiency to logistics processes across industries is our core business. We have garnered our experience from several companies ranging from several industries. We have chartered accountants, logistics business process experts and tech guys who can assist in crunching voluminous data in less time and most of all it should be noted that the most productive audits are accomplished when done methodically and by professional teams. Our people, experience and practices can help organisations realise savings and develop better insights in planning and executing transportation operations.

Despite such benefits, not many companies have tried it. Why?
Freight audit is a very common offering in the US and we are not doing something very exclusive here. In India, however, the situation is different. Even the large companies do not use it. It seems that the industry is yet to appreciate the full potential of freight audits. The industry must allow a third party auditor to look into their processes and come up with saving estimates. There is huge scope for savings in logistics and a thorough freight audit will show you where it lies.

The transportation cost by truck over a period of the last ten years has increased by nearly 50%. In India, the transportation cost of cement is around Rs. 1.03 or Rs. 1.04 per tonne kilometer.

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Concrete

Charting the Green Path

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The Indian cement industry has reached a critical juncture in its sustainability journey. In a landmark move, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has, for the first time, announced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity reduction targets for 282 entities, including 186 cement plants, under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023. These targets, to be enforced starting FY2025-26, are aligned with India’s overarching ambition of achieving net zero emissions by 2070.
Cement manufacturing is intrinsically carbon-intensive, contributing to around 7 per cent of global GHG emissions, or approximately 3.8 billion tonnes annually. In India, the sector is responsible for 6 per cent of total emissions, underscoring its critical role in national climate mitigation strategies. This regulatory push, though long overdue, marks a significant shift towards accountability and structured decarbonisation.
However, the path to a greener cement sector is fraught with challenges—economic viability, regulatory ambiguity, and technical limitations continue to hinder the widespread adoption of sustainable alternatives. A major gap lies in the lack of a clear, India-specific definition for ‘green cement’, which is essential to establish standards and drive industry-wide transformation.
Despite these hurdles, the industry holds immense potential to emerge as a climate champion. Studies estimate that through targeted decarbonisation strategies—ranging from clinker substitution and alternative fuels to carbon capture and innovative product development—the sector could reduce emissions by 400 to 500 million metric tonnes by 2030.
Collaborations between key stakeholders and industry-wide awareness initiatives (such as Earth Day) are already fostering momentum. The responsibility now lies with producers, regulators and technology providers to fast-track innovation and investment.
The time to act is now. A sustainable cement industry is not only possible—it is imperative.

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Concrete

It is equally important to build resilient building structures

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Manoj Rustagi, Chief Sustainability Officer, JSW Cement, discusses how the adoption of ‘green’ practices in cement manufacturing could reshape the future of sustainable construction worldwide.

Cement is one of the most carbon-intensive materials in construction — but innovation is changing that. As sustainability becomes central to infrastructure, green cement is emerging as a viable low-carbon alternative. In this detailed interview with Manoj Rustagi, Chief Sustainability Officer, JSW Cement, we explore what makes cement ‘green’, its performance, and its future. From durability to cutting-edge technologies, here’s a look at the cement industry’s greener path forward.

What exactly is green cement, and how does it differ from traditional cement?
At this point in time, there is no standard for defining green cement. A very simple way to understand ‘Green Cement’ or ‘Low Carbon Cement’ is the one which emits much lower greenhouse gasses (GHG) compared to conventional cement (Ordinary Portland Cement – OPC) during its manufacturing process.
In India, there are many existing BIS Standards for different types of cement products. The most common are OPC; Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC); Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and Composite Cement (CC). While OPC emits maximum GHG during its manufacturing (approx 800-850 kg CO2/MT of OPC), PSC emits least GHG (approx 300-350 kg CO2/MT of PSC). As PSC is having close to 60 per cent lower CO2 emission compared to OPC, it is the greenest cement available in the Indian market.
There is already work happening at the central government level to define green cement, like it has been recently done for green steel, and hopefully in the next one year or so the standard definition would be available.

What are the key environmental benefits of using green cement?
The primary environmental benefits of green or low-carbon cement are:

  • Reduced CO2 emissions
  • Lower energy and power consumption
  • Conservation of limestone and fossil fuels
  • Utilisation of industrial by-products
  • (slag/fly ash)

Can green cement match the durability and strength of conventional cement?
PSC is much more durable than any other type of cement product. It has lower heat of hydration; the strength keeps on improving with time; and it has much higher resistance to chloride and sulphate attacks. Most of the concrete failures are because of chloride and sulphate attacks, which corrode the steel reinforcements and that is how cracks get initiated and propagated resulting in eventual concrete failures. For coastal applications, marine structures, seaports, and mass concreting, PSC is most suitable. Due to the intrinsic durability characteristics of PSC; it is a green and resilient cement product.
Usually everyone talks about lower GHG emissions, but it is equally important to build resilient building structures that can withstand natural calamities and have much longer lifespans. PSC is one cement type that is not only lowest in CO2 emissions but at the same time offers durability characteristics and properties (RCPT, RCMT, Mercury Intrusion, long term strength and flexural strength), which are unmatched.

What innovative technologies are being used to produce green cement?
To further reduce the CO2 emissions in the manufacturing process; some of the innovative technologies which are commercially viable are:

  • Alternative raw materials: Use of steel slag, red mud and other industrial by-products to substitute limestone
  • Alternative fuels: Use of RDF/MSW, pharmaceutical wastes like biomass etc., to substitute coal/pet-coke
  • Waste Heat Recovery (WHR): Power plants to generate electricity from waste heat
  • Renewable energy: Solar and wind energy instead of state grid

How cost-effective is green cement compared to traditional options?
All of the above innovative technologies do not increase the cost of manufacturing. There are some future technologies like Carbon Capture, Utilisation and/or Storage (CCUS), which are not commercially viable and would increase the cost of cement. As such, the options available today for low-carbon cement (like PSC) are not expensive.
The Government of India has recently notified Indian Carbon Market (ICM), which also includes the cement sector. Hopefully, this would help progressive companies to further reduce their carbon footprint.

What challenges does the industry face in adopting green cement on a large scale?
There is absolutely no incentive/motivation for builders/contractors to use green cement products and therefore there is practically no demand. While the industry has taken many steps. In fact the Indian cement industry is believed to be most energy efficient globally and has approximately 10 per cent lower GHG emissions compared to global average. But due to lack of awareness and lack of performance based standards; the demand for low carbon cement or green cement has not picked up in India.

Are governments and regulators supporting the shift to green cement?
In India, in the last couple of years, there have been many policy interventions which have been initiated. One of them, namely the carbon market is under notification; others like Green Public Procurement, Green Cement taxonomy and National CCUS Mission are in the advanced stages and are expected to be implemented in the next couple
of years.

How do you see the future of green cement in global construction?
Globally the built environment accounts for 40 per cent CO2 emissions; and the maximum embodied emissions come from cement and concrete. There is a lot of innovation happening in cement, concrete and construction. Basically, how we build and what material we use. And this is to do with both carbon mitigation as well as adaptation as the built environment is so important for sustainable living. Precast and pre-engineered buildings/structures, 3D concrete printing, ultra high performance concrete, digital and AI/ML interventions in construction, admixtures/improved concrete packing; and circularity in cement manufacturing are some examples. Low-carbon cement or green cement eventually will lead to ‘Net Zero CO2 emission’ cement, which would enable a ‘Net-Zero’ built environment that is needed for long term sustainability.

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Concrete

Solid Steps to Sustainability

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Milind Khangan, Marketing Manager, Vertex Market Research, looks at how India’s cement industry is powering a climate-conscious transformation with green cement at its core, aligning environmental urgency with economic opportunity.

The cement industry produces around eight per cent of the world’s total CO2 emissions. Process emissions, largely due to limestone calcination, contribute 50 to 60 per cent of these emissions and produce nearly one ton of CO2 per ton of cement produced.
India is a leading cement producer with an installed capacity of around 550 million tons (MMT) as of 2024. As the Government of India advances toward its 2070 net-zero target, green cement is becoming a major driver of this shift toward a low-carbon economy. It offers environmental sustainability as well as long-term operating efficiencies at scale. With the fast-paced urbanisation and infrastructure development across the nation, the use of green cement goes beyond environmental imperatives; it is also a strong strategic business opportunity. Indian cement players are some of the most sustainable and environmentally conscious players in the world, and indigenous cement demand in India is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent until 2030.

Innovating sustainably
Green cement is an umbrella term that includes multiple advanced technologies and processes aimed at minimising the environmental footprint, and CO2 emissions of conventional cement manufacturing. This shift from traditional practices targets minimising the carbon footprint throughout the whole cement manufacturing process.

  • Clinker substitution: Substitution of high-carbon clinker with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in order to considerably lower emissions.
  • Alternative binders: Developing cementitious systems that require minimal or no clinker, reducing reliance on traditional methods.
  • Novel cements: Introducing new types of cement that depend less on limestone/clinker, utilising alternative modified processes and raw materials.
  • Energy efficiency and alternative fuels: Optimising energy utilisation in production and substituting fossil fuel with cleaner alternatives coming from waste or biomass.
  • Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS): Trapping CO2 emissions at cement plants for recycling or geological storage.

Drivers and strategic opportunities
Robust infrastructure development pipeline: The government’s continued and massive investment in infrastructure (roads, railways, housing, smart cities) generates huge demand for cement. Crucially, there is a growing preference and sometimes direct requirement under public tenders for sustainable building materials, including green cement, which is giving a significant market stimulus.
India’s national climate commitments (NDC and Net Zero 2070): India’s commitments under the Paris Agreement (NDCs) and the long-term goal of achieving Net Zero emissions by 2070 have set a clear direction for industrial decarbonisation. This national strategy necessitates action from high-emitting sectors such as cement to adopt green cement technologies and carbon-reducing innovations across the construction value chain. Notably, the Indian cement industry alone is expected to generate nearly 400 million tonnes of GHG emissions by 2030.
Regulatory mandates for fly ash utilisation: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released a number of binding notifications that promote the use of fly ash from thermal power plants. These guidelines seek to reduce environmental impact by enhancing its extensive application in cement production, particularly in Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC). Fly ash acts as a pozzolanic material, reacting with calcium hydroxide to produce cementitious compounds, hence decreasing clinker consumption, a high-energy component contributing to high CO2 emissions. Through clinker substitution facilitation, such mandates directly enable the production of low-carbon green cement.
Promotion and utilisation of blast furnace slag: Steel plant slag utilisation policies provide a ready SCM for manufacturing Portland Slag Cement (PSC). This is advantageous in terms of the supply of another key raw material for green cement manufacturing.

Increased demand due to green building movement
The larger adoption of green building codes and certification systems such as GRIHA and LEED India by builders and developers promotes the use of materials with reduced carbon content. Cement products with a higher SCM content or produced through cleaner processes are preferred. A step in this direction was achieved in October 2021 when Dalmia Cement achieved the distinction of being the first Indian cement producer to be granted the Green Product Accreditation of GRIHA.
The Indian industry is actively investing in R&D for new binders such as geopolymer cement, alkali-activated materials and limestone calcined clay cement (LC3). Research institutions including IIT Madras are collaborating with industry to scale these technologies. Although Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) is still at a nascent stage in India, it represents a potential frontier for long-term decarbonisation in the cement sector.
The MoEFCC has published draft regulations under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023, in the form of the Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity Target Rules, 2025. The draft notification requires 186 cement units in India to lower their GHG emission intensity from FY 2025-26. Non-compliant manufacturers will have to purchase carbon credit certificates or face penalties, creating a clear regulatory and financial incentive to adopt cleaner technology. The CCTS will promote technology and practice adoption that reduces the carbon intensity of cement manufacturing, potentially resulting in the use of green cement and other low-carbon substitutes for cement.
India’s leading cement companies like UltraTech, Shree Cement, and Dalmia Bharat have made science-based targets and net-zero emissions pledges in line with the GCCA 2050 Cement and Concrete Industry Roadmap. These self-declarations are hastening the shift towards clean cement manufacturing technology and renewable energy procurement.

Challenges and complexities in India’s green cement transition
Economic viability and cost challenges: High production costs associated with low-carbon cement technologies remain a significant hurdle. The absence of strict carbon pricing and poor financial incentives slow down rapid uptake on a large scale. Although green cement is currently costlier than conventional options, greater market adoption and scale-driven efficiencies are expected to progressively narrow this price gap, enhancing commercial viability over time. As these technologies mature, their broader deployment will become more feasible.
Inconsistent supply chain of SCMs: A dependable supply of high-quality Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs), such as fly ash and slag, is crucial. But in the course of decarbonisation of India’s power generation and industry sectors, SCMs reliability and availability may become intermittent. Strong, decentralised logistics and material processing units must be developed in order to provide uninterrupted and economical SCM supply chains to cement producers.

Gaps in technical standards and performance benchmarks
Although PPC and PSC are well-supported by existing BIS codes, standards for newer materials such as calcined clay, geopolymer binders and other novel SCMs require timely development and updates. Maintaining steady performance, lasting robustness, and usage dependability in varying climatic and structural applications will be key to instilling market faith in other forms of cement formulation. Market stakeholders are also supporting separate BIS codes for the green cement sub-categories for helping to build and sustain standardisation and trust.

Scaling of emerging technologies
Scaling promising technology, especially CCUS, from pilots to commercial scales within the Indian context involves significant investment of capital, technical manpower, and a facilitating regulatory environment. The creation of infrastructure for transportation and long-term storage of CO2 will be critical. While these facilitative systems are implemented, cement makers will be well-placed to decarbonise their operations and achieve national sustainability goals.

The way ahead
The Indian cement industry is poised to enter a revolutionary era, where decarbonisation and sustainability are at the heart of expansion. Industry players and the government need to join hands in an integrated manner throughout the cement value chain to spearhead this green revolution. Cement companies must embrace new technologies to lower the emissions like the utilisation of alternative fuels like biomass, industrial wastes, and recycled materials and utilisation of waste heat recovery systems to make energy efficient. The electrification of logistics and kilns, investigation of high-heat alternative products, and CCUS technology investments must be made to decarbonise production. Sophisticated additives such as polymers can improve cement performance with reduced environmental footprint.
At the policy level, the government has to introduce support measures such as stable carbon pricing, tax relief, viability gap funding, and initiatives such as the PLI scheme to encourage the use of renewable energy in cement manufacturing. Instruments such as carbon contracts can stabilise carbon credit prices and reduce market risk, encouraging investment in low-carbon technologies. Updating BIS standards for newer green cement formulations and SCMs is also critical for market acceptance and confidence. Green cement mandates in public procurement and long-term offtake contracts have the potential to generate stable demand, and green financing windows can guarantee commercial viability of near-zero carbon technologies. Cement greening is not a choice, it is a necessity for constructing a climate-resilient, sustainable India.

About the author:
Milind Khangan, Marketing Manager, Vertex Market Research, comes with more than five years of experience in market research and lead generation. He is responsible for developing new marketing plans and innovations in lead generation, having expertise in creating a technically strong website that generates leads for startups in market research.

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