Concrete

Effective communication is essential in precast detailing

Published

3 years ago

October 19, 2023

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Vijay Shah, Managing Partner, India Precast, talks about the process of making precast concrete shapes, with a focus on the challenges that accompany the production.

Tell us about the process of casting concrete in shapes.
Precast concrete products are made through pouring either wet cast or dry cast concrete into moulds, which are then hardened and removed to be dispatched. These moulds could be from concrete posts, pillars, columns, slabs etc. This benefits the construction process as it can be difficult to manoeuvre or create the right shapes and sizes by pouring the concrete on site.

The process of making precast shapes involve:

Build a form. The inside of the form defines the shape that is being created. This form is then filled up with cement and is kept to dry and harden.
Clean the mould before adding cement to it. The mould should be lined with materials or chemicals that allow for the hardened concrete structure to retrieve from it.
Cement or concrete mix is then created to be poured into the moulds for setting. We use a variety of concrete grades like M25, M30, M35, M40, and M45 for this mix. The mould poured in cement is left alone for 24 hours to harden and removed once set.
Once set, a hard mould is either broken or the cast is retrieved from a soft mould by shaking, which is ready to be transported to the location of construction or building activity.

What are the standard sizes and shapes of precast made by your organisation?
Our organisation makes various types of precast elements like:

Solid load bearing floor slabs, load bearing walls, facades, sandwich wall panels and cladding panels
Floor and roof slabs, made from prestressed load bearing hollow concrete slab and ribbed slab. Floors or roofs are also made from half floor slab or semi-finished floor slab with
lattice girder.
Precast stair cases, balcony, toilet pods, lift shafts and water tanks
Prestressed lintel, frames, beams, column and double tee beam
Internal partition walls, made from light-weight hollow core wall panels instead of AAC blocks or bricks
Sandwich walls, beams, columns, I-Beam, tee beam, lintel, footings, boundary walls, retaining walls, fencing poles, U-drainage or trench, box culvert, jersey barriers, covers, paver blocks etc.

Explain the moulds used to make these shapes. Do you customise moulds?
Concrete moulds are moulds that are used to shape the concrete you are working with. The concrete will adopt the shape of the mould as it cures. Concrete moulds are used to give concrete its finishing shape. Moulds are of various types (refer table below). We customise the moulds as per requirements.

S. No. Mould type Uses

Conventional moulds Ribbed slabs, beams, window panels, box type units and special elements
Battery moulds Interior wall panels, shell elements, roof and floor slabs
Tilting moulds Exterior wall panels where special finishes are required on one face or for sandwich panels
Long line prestressing beds Double tees, ribbed slabs, piles and beams
Extrusion machine Roof slabs and hollow core slabs

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Concrete

UltraTech Cement FY26 PAT Crosses Rs 80 bn

Company reports record sales, profit and 200 MTPA capacity milestone

Published

2 days ago

April 29, 2026

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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.

Concrete

Towards Mega Batching

Optimised batching can drive overall efficiencies in large projects.

Published

3 days ago

April 28, 2026

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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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Concrete

Andhra Offers Discom Licences To Private Firms Outside Power Sector

Policy allows firms over 300 MW to seek distribution licences

Published

4 days ago

April 27, 2026

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The Andhra Pradesh government will allow private firms that require more than 300 megawatt (MW) of power to apply for distribution licences, making the state the first to extend such licences beyond the power sector. The policy targets information technology, pharmaceuticals, steel and data centres and aims to reduce reliance on state utilities as demand rises for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Approved applicants will be able to procure electricity directly from generators through power purchase agreements, a change officials said will create more competitive tariffs and reduce supply risk. Licence holders will use the Andhra Pradesh Transmission Company (APTRANSCO) network on payment of charges and will not need a separate distribution network initially.

Licences will be granted under the Electricity Act, 2003 framework, with the Central and State electricity regulators retaining authority over terms and approvals. The recent Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025 sought to lower entry barriers, enable network sharing and encourage competition, while the state commission will set floor and ceiling tariffs where multiple discoms operate.

Industry players and original equipment manufacturers welcomed the policy, saying competitive supply is vital for large data centre investments. Major projects and partnerships such as those involving Adani and Google, Brookfield and Reliance, and Meta and Sify Technologies are expected to benefit as capacity expands in the state.

Analysts noted India’s data centre capacity is forecast to reach 10 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and cited International Energy Agency estimates that global data centre electricity consumption could approach 945 terawatt hours by the same year. A one GW data centre needs an equivalent power allocation and one point five times the water, which authorities equated to 150 billion litres (150 bn litres).

Advisers warned that distribution licences will require close regulation and monitoring to prevent misuse and to ensure tariffs and supply obligations are met. Officials said the policy aims to balance investor requirements with regulatory oversight and could serve as a model for other states.