Economy & Market

We must strictly adopt a cash and carry policy.

Published

5 years ago

October 14, 2021

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Surviving in todayÂ´s market is not that difficult if dealers come together and stay united. A systematic approach will help dealers tide over the tough time, says Rajkumar Modi, Proprietor, Vishesh Enterprises. Excerpts from the interview.

Do you consider yourself a dealer or a stockist?

In the Mumbai region, there are no stockists as such. A stockist is the one who has warehouse and cement stocks. In Mumbai, the cost of real estate is so high that it is not viable to have a warehouse here. Instead, we take order from the contractor, book the cement quantities with the company and have it delivered to the consumer directly. We are more like sales promoters or distributors.

Where all do you supply cement?

We supply in the Mumbai region covering the entire city including Karjat, Kasara, Dahanu, Raigarh, etc. We sell cement to dealers, contractors, builders, big infrastructure projects, in both the trade and non-trade mode.

How much cement is dispatched by you and how much is traded in Mumbai?

We dispatch around 2500 MT of cement while in Mumbai, approximately 7 lakh MT of cement would be traded in a month.

What limits your distribution network to the Mumbai region?

We can sell only in the Mumbai region. If we have to sell outside Mumbai, let`s say Pune, then we can`t bill the client directly. So we have to send the material on the company bill. This is called non-trade dealing. In this non-trade mode, we can sell cement to large projects, to major contractors and builders, etc, outside Mumbai.

Is there a difference in the cost of trade and non-trade cement? How much is it?

Yes, there is difference in the two rates and there is lot of discussion in the market about it. The cost difference varies from brand to brand and also on market conditions. The difference in top brands of cement will be around Rs 25, while other local brands may have a gap of around Rs 40 – 50 in their trade and non-trade price. Even the excise duty on the trade and non-trade cement varies, which adds to the cost difference.

How is the cement market doing?

Markets are definitely on a downtrend and there are several reasons for it. One is that several projects are held up due to lack of clearances from the environment ministry. The clearance procedure is slow and cumbersome. A major issue facing us is shortage of sand. Sand supply is extremely low compared to its demand. How can any infrastructure growth or construction activity happen without sand? This is slowing down the projects drastically. Using crushed sand from mines too, is not a good option. One is that crushed sand does not meet the quality standards in most cases, also obtaining crushed sand from mines has a negative impact on the environment.

The government has introduced several checks and regulatory obstacles in the project clearance process. This is slowing down things as a huge amount of paperwork is required. Fund inflow too, is low. Builders had raised the cost of real estate so high that it went completely out of range for middle class consumers. The buyers have withdrawn and are now waiting for prices to come down. As a result, investors are reluctant to put up new projects. They are worried about finishing the ones that were initiated.

How can one survive in this tough market? Is expanding the product portfolio to include other construction material a good option?

No, adding new products to the construction sector will not help at all. If they can`t pay for the cement, then how will they pay for the steel and other products? The consumers, the network are the same. If we have to diversify , we should think of a different area altogether. This takes time and long- term planning. Instead, if we focus on our core business and do it systematically, we can survive in this market. We must adopt the cash and carry policy. If we are strict about our system and do not give material on credit, we will be able to come out of this. But for this, all dealers must come together and follow this strictly. Unfortunately, despite several attempts, we are not able to achieve strong unity amongst ourselves. This has to change. Apart from this, one must also be careful about giving too much material on credit which can be detrimental to the business in today`s market.

How do you select which brand to take distributorship of?

We look at the market demand for the brand and its monthly sale volumes, segment it caters to, the customer profile in terms of size and requirement Another important factor is the supply of the material. The company should be able to supply in all kinds of market conditions. Then, the reputation of the brand and the customer feedback matters the most.

Several projects are held up due to lack of clearances from the environment ministry. The clearance procedure is slow and cumbersome.

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

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.