A visionary initiative of the Kamal Group of companies, KJS Cement, a new entrant to the highly competitive cement industry, has already charted a success story achieving a per metric tonne of realisation comparable to the best in the industry, all in the short span of eight months.
KJS Cement joined the core sector cement manufacturing industry of the country with a 2.5 million tonne capacity integrated cement plant and 30 MW captive thermal power plant located in Maihar. KJS with its industrial background of three sponge iron and TMT plants, and the largest iron ore mining business, signed an MOU with the MP government on 16th Feb 2008 and with an outlay of Rs. 1100 crore, set up a cement manufacturing unit in Satna District in Madhya Pradesh.
Kamal Jeet Singh Ahluwalia, the visionary Founder and Chairman of the Kamal Group of Companies and his companion directors could visualise the changing business scenario of the world and took a decision to diversify from mining and steel to another core business by setting up a cement plant. Taking such a decision in an emerging environment where consolidation of business was a trend all over the country, was itself a challenging one but challenges bring the best out in those who dream best.
KJS Cement was launched on 12th July 2012 and within a short span of eight months, achieved one hundred per cent capacity utilisation of cement manufacturing and selling KJS cement in MP, UP and Bihar. With an image and reputation of top quality, KJS cement has become the preferred choice of consumers. A market network of 600 dealers and promoters bring KJS cement to the consumers, geographically located as they are at a cement hub.
The modern plant has best technological support from FLS Denmark for Pyro and Loesche Germany for packing plant and grinding VRM units. The unit is spread on 250 acres of land, with well- established road and rail connectivity. With an advantage of having a limestone mining lease close by, they have been able to minimise their raw material cost.
Says Pawan Ahluwalia, Managing Director, KJS Cement, "We have selected the best available machinery for our Pyro processing with a 6- stage, 2- stream pre-heater and in-line calciner, and a cross bar cooler for fuel efficiency. The coal consumption is below 700 Kcal per kg of clinker, which is one of the best in the country. For grinding raw material limestone, coal and cement mill (clinker grinding), vertical roller mills have been procured from Loesche Germany, one of the pioneers of vertical roller mills. These mills are very efficient for consistent quality production. The packing plant is again one of the best from FLS Ventomatic, having a capacity of 4 x 180 mt per hour. The plant is a state- of- the- art technology fully computerised automation system supplied by Siemens."
Pawan continues to say, "The cyclic nature of cement sales may see an intermittently muted response. However, given the high outlay and GDP growth for the next Plan (pegged at 8-8.5 per cent), cement (which has a strong co-relation with GDP 1.2x GDP) will witness a substantial growth in consumption."
Even though a new entrant in the hugely competitive market, KJS has been successful in creating its niche market segment and has overcome tough competition with its high quality and cost- effective approach. "Our brand KJS is sold at par with all other established brands in the markets," says Pawan. Speaking on future plans, he said, "Our promoters have ambitious expansion plans of setting up one more line of 2.5 million tonne cement manufacturing capacity, making a total capacity of five million tonne per year. Plans are also on the anvil to set up another 30 mw captive power plant and two grinding units in UP and Bihar."
Despite the current scenario and the dip in sales, Pawan sums it up on a positive note."The per capita consumption of cement in India is far below the global average.This singular factor underlines the tremendous scope of growth in the Indian cement industry, in the medium to long term."