Economy & Market

2014 will not show a sharp revival although we expect the conditions to remain stable

Published

5 years ago

October 14, 2021

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Teena Virmani, Vice- President, Kotak Securities The year 2013 was tough for the industry, and 2014 is not expected to fare much better. Though things will be better, there is still a long way to go, for the sector to get back on track. Teena Virmani, Vice- President, Kotak Securities, shares her views about the year ahead. Excerpts from the interview.

So how do you assess the performance of the cement sector in 2013?
The current installed capacity of the cement industry stand at around 330 – 340 million tonnes per annum. The cement demand, however, was much lower. Most companies had their production volumes up to 60 – 70 per cent of installed capacity. The cement demand growth hovered at around 4 – 5 per cent in the fiscal year. The slowdown was a spillover of decreased growth in consumer sectors such as infrastructure and housing. The GDP of the country too, was very low.

The housing sector, which is the major consumer of cement, saw a decline in real estate demand.. One of the reasons was high interest rates on loans available for the housing sector. Besides this, the ban on sand mining too, impacted the sector.

We also saw very little activity in the infra sector. No major projects were launched and the actual execution of those granted did not take place. Overall, 2013 was not that good for the cement manufacturers.

Has setting up a cement plant become more difficult now?
Land acquisition process is not as smooth as it should be. When it comes to acquiring and building a cement plant, the promoters have to go through a lengthy approval process right from environment clearance to mining leases. The number of approvals required is very large and the time taken for granting is too long. This definitely slows down the growth.

Do you expect good cement demand in 2014?
2014 will not show a sharp revival although we expect the conditions to remain stable at least, if not improve. We feel that after the elections, once we see a stable government in place, we will have a clear idea of the direction in which we are moving ahead. I donÂ´t think new governance will have an immediate impact on the market; it will be a slow and a gradual process. Projects will be planned, approved, tenders will be floated and contracts will be awarded. Only after the projects take off at ground level will we see any demand from the infra sector. So, after the elections, we do not expect any drastic improvements for at least 3- 5 quarters. At the most, we may see a positive and optimistic mindset impacting the market after the elections.

Demand from the rural housing sector too, will help in a revival and we expect it to be at least at 5 per cent. In 2015, the demand is likely to pick up.

How do you view consolidations that happened in 2013?
We saw several major consolidations in the last year. There were capacity additions, too, though the cement demand was low. Industries have to grow whether or not there is demand in the market. 2013 was a year of consolidation and we believe it was the right move for buyers. The consolidations happened at very decent rates and the dollar was at a high so both parties benefited. It was a good move to take over rather than setting up a new facility. The cost of taking over is well worth it, given the hassles of getting a slew of clearances and mining leases in the case of setting up a new plant. Replacement costs too, are very high. In a way, the slowdown was a good opportunity for the buyers.

How do you expect cement prices to move in 2014?
The last fifteen days of December usually see a dip in prices. This is an established pattern as some major cement companies close their books in December. They have to clear the cement stocks before the books are closed. As a result, the market has an over-supply of cement in this period. Prices usually come down at this time but we expect them to start improving from January onwards and keep rising till May – June 2014. After June, the pricing will depend on the monsoon. There is a likelihood of prices dipping in June. Overall, we expect prices to be on the higher side in 2014 as compared to 2013. We are expecting better days for the housing, construction and infrastructure sectors and that will certainly help in improving cement prices.

Will cement companies have a better profit margins in 2014 with the decreasing costs of production?
A good cost structure will have to be put in place for the industry. As cement prices went up, the cost of production too, went up dramatically, the cost of raw material went up, and the rise in diesel prices raised the cost of freight transport. Although the cost of coal had come down slightly, it was offset by the rise of the dollar. We donÂ´t see costs coming down in the near future. Cement prices may go up but the cost of production is not likely to come down.

Are cement manufacturers cutting production to save on limestone reserves?
No, the cut in production is purely related to the demand and supply scenario. It has nothing to do with conservation of limestone reserves. Companies like ACC, Ambuja, UltraTech, have reserves sufficient for more than 60 – 70 years, so there is no need to conserve resources by cutting production.

The prices and the production capacity is governed by the demand and 2013 saw a dip in demand. The cut in production was in response to the lower demand. As the infrastructure and housing sectors pick up, we will see the production volumes rising correspondingly.

Economy & Market

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

Published

5 days 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.