Vinita Singhania: Cement Pioneer Honored with Lifetime Achievement at 7th Indian Cement Review Awards
UltraTech Cement, JK Cement, JSW Cement, etc among the winners of Indian Cement Review Awards for Fastest Growing Cement Companies
Lt General Raghu Srinivasan, Director General, Border Roads Organisation, was the guest of honour at the Awards function.
Recognising her contribution to the cement industry, Vinita Singhania, Vice Chairman and Managing Director at JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd, and Chairman of Udaipur Cement Works Ltd, was presented with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 7th Indian Cement Review Awards function held on December 15, 2023, at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. The event, which was co-located with the 9th Indian Cement Review (ICR) Conference and the 14th Cement EXPO 2023, was organised by FIRST Construction Council (an infrastructure think tank) and Indian Cement Review (ICR).
Vinita Singhania – an industrialist and entrepreneur, having diversified knowledge and rich business experience of over 30 years – stands as a proud example, being the only woman entrepreneur in the cement sector in India. Her tenure has been marked by rapid expansion of JKCL’s business. Production capacity has jumped from 0.5 MTPA in 1982 to over 14 MTPA now; and plans to ramp up to 30Mta by 2030. Under her leadership, the company has been focusing on environment-friendly and energy efficiency technologies. In her acceptance speech, Vinita Singhania commended the progress made by the Indian cement sector and encouraged women to play a more significant role in it. She reminisced about her early days: “I remember when I had entered the industry in the late ’80s, with a basic understanding of management, a lot of eyebrows were raised as it was thought to be a male dominated industry. but over the period of time I picked up the required knowledge to operate the business. Being a woman meant handling business and family simultaneously. For the first few years, it was challenging for me but my great team helped me a lot to achieve excellence.” She further added, “We should invest our time, effort and capital to educate and empower the women for their upliftment, growth and independence. I look forward to the continued growth of the cement industry.” UltraTech Cement, JK Cement, JSW Cement, Star Cement, etc. were among the winners of ICR Fastest Growing Cement Company awards in various categories. The complete list of the 7th Indian Cement Review Award winners is as follows:
Tamil Nadu is set to host one of India’s five national carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) testbeds, aimed at reducing CO2 emissions in the cement industry as part of the country’s 2070 net-zero goal, as per a news report. The facility will be based at UltraTech Cement’s Reddipalayam plant in Ariyalur, supported by IIT Madras and BITS Pilani. Backed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the project will pilot an oxygen-enriched kiln capable of capturing up to two tonnes of CO2 per day for conversion into concrete products. Additional testbeds are planned in Rajasthan, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh, involving companies like JK Cement and Dalmia Cement. Union Minister Jitendra Singh confirmed that funding approvals are underway, with full implementation expected in 2025.
JSW Cement has set the price range for its upcoming initial public offering(IPO) at US$1.58 to US$1.67 per share, aiming to raise approximately US$409 million. As reported in the news, around US$91 million from the proceeds will be directed towards partially financing a new integrated cement plant in Nagaur, Rajasthan. Additionally, the company plans to utilise US$59.2 million to repay or prepay existing debts. The remaining capital will be allocated for general corporate purposes.
As per a news report, Karan Adani, ACC Chair, has said that he expects the cement industry to benefit from the an anticipated US$2.2tn in new public infrastructure spending between 2025 and 2030. In a statement he said that ACC has crossed the 100Mt/yr cement capacity milestone in April 2025, propelling the company to get closer to its ambitious 140Mt/yr target by the 2028 financial year. The company’s capacity corresponds to 15 per cent of an all-India installed capacity of 686Mt/yr.