Economy & Market

Logistics is the biggest cost component in the whole chain of RMC business.

Published

5 years ago

October 14, 2021

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More than 80 per cent of concrete produced in developed nations is used as ready- mix. In India, however, it is less than nine per cent. What is stopping the RMC market from taking off? ICR interacts with Bankat Mandhania, Director, Ashtech (India), a leading cement and ready- mix concrete manufacturer in the country, to get some insights. Excerpts from the interview.

How is the RMC market performing?

If you talk about growth, yes it is there as more people are realising the advantages of using RMC. Once someone uses RMC, he is bound to be convinced of the advantages. After this, he will be ready to shell out extra for the product since what is gained in return is good service along with a good product. As per sustainability, the business goes on as there is no entry barrier to the RMC sector. Anybody can set up a RMC unit. So it is open to competition. We do not get premium for a brand name. Leading cement companies are out there in the RMC business, but if you see the revenues, they are not making too much money there. But they are there for sure.

Why is the demand for RMC so little in India compared to foreign countries?

Though the demand is less in India, the RMC market is growing. Yes, it is true that in foreign countries today, 90 per cent of the concrete manufactured is sold in RMC form. Here things are a bit different. If you check Indian markets, almost 70 per cent of the cement is sold in bags. That gives you a comparison between the two. Masons and builders here need to be updated and that takes time. But once the builder uses RMC, he understands the advantage. It also requires some volume of work to be done over a period of time. But those into constructing small buildings and two floor apartments are will not go for RMC. Once we start doing sizeable projects, the construction community will experience the benefits of RMC first- hand.

Is the equipment readily available for RMC production?

You have the entire spectrum of manufacturers in India. You have players from Ahmedabad-based companies catering to local markets and foreign multinationals. There is a vast spectrum of RMC equipment to choose from. All the standard equipment is from standard manufacturers worldwide so you are not compromising on quality of equipment for sure. Availability is not a problem, the choice is there, and any type or size is there.

It is said that crushed sand is not as good as natural sand. What is your take on this?

The natural sand that we are talking about is no longer available. There is no river sand anymore in the area of Mumbai. We are using creek sand which is by itself, never recommended. It is as an alkaline material. River sand was used in the British era, ferried from Gujarat. So Marine Drive and everything that is British- built, was all done with river sand. They got it 60 years back to ensure quality construction; there is no river sand as such in India today. Also, in the name of manufactured sand, we are using powder and that is stone dust. For manufactured sand you need a VSI plant, which has come into Mumbai just a few years ago. Pune is more mature in terms of sand use. They are using crushed sand for plasters too. Now crushed sand manufactures here too, have fantastic gradations available with them.

Are we stuck with the minimum grades of concrete?

The grade of concrete depends on the end application. The more challenging the structural demand, the higher the grade of concrete used is. It is wrong to say we cannot do it. M70 is what we used for the JJ flyover about seven years ago. The Bandra-Worli Sea link is made with M60 grade concrete. All Metros have got M60 specified material. So we are able to manufacture a wide range of concrete. The biggest market here is the residential market where buildings are from four floors to 40 floors. M30 grade concrete will satisfy the structural demands of a four- floor building. The higher the building, the higher the grade requirement is. World One (the worldÂ´s tallest residential tower by the Lodha Group) is using M90; they are producing it and they are doing a good job. We have variations in grade available to suit our requirements and we also have a good knowledge base.

Is skilled workforce available adequately?

We are definitely falling short of good quality manpower. There is a shortage of quality control people, too. We are nowhere near the international standards of an available workforce in terms of quality and in sufficient quantity. In India, people have little option but to compromise on a lot of things. Although the country sees large numbers of engineers graduating every year, very few of them are employable. Whether we can handle this type of concrete demand is a question mark. You have enough civil engineers but are they really employable?

How do you deal with it? Do you have a separate training module for them?

We take two to three civil engineers every year and we mould them. You have to nurture them. Employability or job requirement is something you have to pay attention to and you have to take that effort and make sure that they understand and learn the industryÂ´s requirements. Then, a couple of years down the line, you can give them additional responsibilities. We take fresh engineers every year. When we see candidates with good potential, we create opportunities for them and ensure that they stay with us. Skill shortage is an issue in RMC.

What are the other challenges encountered in the RMC sector?

Logistics is the biggest cost component in the whole chain. The transit mixer costs almost Rs 30 lakh and it can deliver only that much quantity in a day. The stronger the asset base, the better the company, and it can be relied upon by the consumer as a supplier. It works both ways. You have to ensure that the deliveries are made on time and that the material is poured as per schedule irrespective of hassles such as traffic or roadblocks. The system must be robust enough to absorb and respond to any issue that can pop up on the fly.

So how do you manage this?

We have 74 transit mixers and 24 pumps. We follow a process of sending a questionnaire to our consumer that asks for all the details including the peak requirement for the material. Based on this, we design equipment required for the work. That determines if there are going to be two slabs every day for one site, so a minimum of two pumps and seven transit mixers are required, and that too, if the site is close. But if the same site is far away, I will need 12 transit mixers. So having a complete understanding of the customer`s requirement and a solid contingency plan in place is key in this business.

Economy & Market

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

Published

1 week 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

4 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

4 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.