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The Economics of Bulk Transportation

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Anup Nair, Managing Director, Martin Engineering Company India, discusses the importance of advanced solutions for transporting bulk materials to minimise impact on the environment and maximise cost efficiency.

In terms of the problems that cement manufacturing organisations face while transporting bulk materials and the solutions provided by Martin Engineering India, the challenges lie in in
two areas:
In a manufacturing plant, the kilns get blocked when the bulk material is moving through. Martin Engineering Air Cannons accompanied by Smart Nozzles ensure smooth flow and consume much less air compared to other methods thereby reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint.
In the mines, the conveyors face various problems like the spillage and carryback etc. Martin Engineering is a global leader in conveyor products such as belt cleaners and other solutions including innovative remote monitoring systems.

Safer Work Environment
Their products ensure that the workers in the plant and mines need not go frequently to the high risk equipment, such as conveyors, as they are maintained trouble free by reducing spillage, carryback, conveyor swaying etc. This risk is further reduced by the remote monitoring systems. The Martin Smart Series Nozzles come with a thermo safety shield that ensures the safety of the workers while replacing the nozzles with the plant still in operation.
Their equipment enhances productivity by reducing the downtime and increasing the intervals of shutdown. This is possible with the products of innovative design. The profitability is increased by high improvement in efficiency thereby reducing manpower required for cleaning, monitoring etc., and by reducing the energy consumption and carbon footprint as mentioned earlier.
The products also keep the plant machinery clean and efficient. This ensures lesser wear and tear of the plant machinery. For example, belt cleaners ensure there is no carry back in the conveyors that eventually lead to conveyor wear and tear.

Innovating for the Future
Martin Engineering’s tagline is ‹problem solved guaranteed,› therefore they ensure that the pain points faced by the customers are resolved using their products.
In India, manpower used to be available at lower cost. This situation helped the customers use manual methods. This led to a delay in employing modern methods such as the ones offered by Martin Engineering in India compared to other developed countries where the manpower availability was always a challenge.
Today, the company has introduced a remote monitoring system named N2. This helps the customers monitor the health condition of the equipment on their mobile phones. Also, the smart series nozzles that they manufacture ensures an innovative method of keeping the inner areas of the refractories clean. The company wishes to further these advanced methods to more of their customers this year.
As the Indian market matures, Martin Engineering will introduce more and more innovative products from their stable that ensures increase in safety and efficiency, which would lead to substantial reduction in energy consumption and carbon footprint. This would help their customers gain a competitive edge.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anup Nair, MD, Martin Engineering Company Pvt Ltd,
comes with 30 years of experience in the capital/construction equipment industry as a management professional.

Concrete

Cement Production Up Eight Point Six Per Cent To 491.4 mn t In FY26

Icra Sees Seven To Eight Per Cent Growth In FY27

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Icra reported that cement production volumes rose by eight point six per cent in the financial year 2026 to 491.4 million (mn) metric tonne (t). March output was 48.4 mn t, up four per cent year on year on a high base.

The agency projected that volumes are expected to grow by seven to eight per cent in the current financial year, supported by sustained demand from the housing and infrastructure sectors. Average cement prices were reported to have remained flat in March at Rs 340 per bag on a month on month basis, while prices for FY26 increased by two per cent to Rs 345 per bag year on year.

Among inputs, coal prices declined by 17 per cent year on year to USD 102 per t in April 2026 while petcoke prices rose sharply by 19 per cent month on month and 22 per cent year on year to around Rs 15,800 per t in April. Petcoke was higher by about five per cent year on year in FY26 and diesel prices were reported to have remained steady. Icra noted that coal, petcoke and diesel are expected to trend higher in FY27 and remain exposed to risks from the ongoing West Asia conflict.

The report emphasised that operating margins for Icra’s sample set of companies are estimated to moderate by 200 to 400 basis points (bps) in FY27 on account of a likely increase in input costs, with further downside risks should crude prices rise owing to geopolitical tensions. However, debt protection metrics are projected to remain comfortable and Icra maintained a stable outlook on the Indian cement sector.

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Concrete

UltraTech Cement FY26 PAT Crosses Rs 80 bn

Company reports record sales, profit and 200 MTPA capacity milestone

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UltraTech Cement reported record financial performance for Q4 and FY26, supported by strong volumes, higher profitability and improved cost efficiency. Consolidated net sales for Q4 FY26 rose 12 per cent year-on-year to Rs 254.67 billion, while PBIDT increased 20 per cent to Rs 56.88 billion. PAT, excluding exceptional items, grew 21 per cent to Rs 30.11 billion.

For FY26, consolidated net sales stood at Rs 873.84 billion, up 17 per cent from Rs 749.36 billion in FY25. PBIDT rose 32 per cent to Rs 175.98 billion, while PAT increased 36 per cent to Rs 83.05 billion, crossing the Rs 80 billion mark for the first time.

India grey cement volumes reached 42.41 million tonnes in Q4 FY26, up 9.3 per cent year-on-year, with capacity utilisation at 89 per cent. Full-year India grey cement volumes stood at 145 million tonnes. Energy costs declined 3 per cent, aided by a higher green power mix of 43 per cent in Q4.

The company’s domestic grey cement capacity has crossed 200 MTPA, reaching 200.1 MTPA, while global capacity stands at 205.5 MTPA. UltraTech also recommended a special dividend of Rs 2.40 billion per share value basis equivalent to Rs 240.

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Concrete

Towards Mega Batching

Optimised batching can drive overall efficiencies in large projects.

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India’s pace of infrastructure development is pushing the construction sector to work at a significantly higher scale than previously. Tight deadlines necessitate eliminating concreting delays, especially in large and mega projects, which, in turn, imply installing the right batching plant and ensuring batching is efficient. CW explores these steps as well as the gaps in India’s batching plant market.

Choose well

Large-scale infrastructure and building projects typically involve concrete consumption exceeding 30,000-50,000 cum per annum or demand continuous, high-volume pours within compressed timelines, according to Rahul R Wadhai, DGM – Quality, Tata Projects.

Considering the daily need for concrete, “large-scale concreting involves pouring more than 1,000–2,000 cum per day while mega projects involve more than 3,000 cum per day,” says Satish R Vachhani, Advanced Concrete & Construction Consultant…

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