Concrete

A cornerstone of the Indian cement industry

Published

2 years ago

October 16, 2024

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Some things are changing at FLSmidth Cement, but most remain the same, as the company’s Indian head, Manoj Taneja, explained to Indian Cement Review.

FLSmidth Cement is changing. Over recent years, the company’s pureplay strategy has separated its cement and mining businesses, and the cement business is now undergoing divestment: news that was met by some with uncertainty. However, according to Manoj Taneja, Head of India Cluster and Designated Partner in FLSmidth Cement India LLP, this has all been a “good move” that allows the cement business to “take control of our future”.
Taneja began his professional career as a service engineer at EEL India Ltd, a manufacturer of various material handling and bag packing systems acquired by FLSmidth in 2009. He has led the company’s Indian operations since 2022. “It is an exciting time at FLSmidth Cement. With pureplay and the divestment, we can now chart our own course. The most obvious example of this in our Indian business is consolidating our manufacturing footprint into a single facility near our corporate headquarters in Chennai. This allows us to focus exclusively on our cement clients, improving efficiency and responsiveness, simplifying logistics, and centralising our expertise into a single point of excellence. Chennai also offers good access to the rest of the country, making it easier for clients to visit our factory for inspections and performance testing.”
The corporate headquarters is also moving as the company seeks offices that better match its needs. “As we continue to embrace a flexible post-COVID working model, finding a workspace that supports this shift and provides our employees with a favourable working environment is essential,” Taneja explained. “We are staying in Chennai, however, and currently undertaking a site selection process that aims to limit the inconvenience caused to employees.”

A name you can rely on
Some things, however, remain constant. “We are still delivering the same industry-leading equipment and services as we have always done,” according to Taneja. Nowhere is this more obvious than the record-setting new clinker line at Shree Cement Ltd’s Nawalgahr plant in Rajasthan. Inaugurated in December 2023 with a guaranteed capacity of 11,500 tph, the plant is averaging daily clinker production of 13,695 tonnes. The line features a four-string preheater with low-NOX calciner, a 6m dia. x 88m long kiln, and the largest Cross Bar® Cooler ever delivered, with a grate area of over 325m2.
Shree Cement Ltd also recently signed their first group-level PlantLine™ service agreement in India, covering all current and future FLSmidth Cement automation solutions across seven plants. “PlantLine agreements aim to maintain the operational excellence of digital and automation solutions through a comprehensive, customisable range of services,” explained Tanega. “The Shree Cement agreement puts us just shy of 300 PlantLine agreements globally and shows the increasing significance of services that help improve and maintain plant performance.”
“One of the main benefits of our services is access to specialist (and potentially hard-to-acquire) skills and experience,” continued Taneja. “Our global network offers 24/7 access to support from a world-leading team of experts in all aspects of the cement-making process, plant, equipment, and automation systems, wherever you are in the world.”

Renewed focus on cement
Another outcome of the company’s pureplay transition is “keeping our cement clients front and centre of our activities; there is no competition with mining,” emphasised Taneja. “For example, here, in India, we recently ran nine client-focused webinars on diverse topics, all on the theme of enhancing equipment reliability. These sessions received an overwhelming response, attracting over 100 participants each, from all levels of client organisations, which indicates the widespread interest and engagement in the topics discussed.”
Webinars are a “great way to exchange and foster closer collaboration between us and our clients,” Taneja added. “However, we also understand the importance of face-to-face meetings and will attend several upcoming in-person conferences.”
This includes the upcoming 18th NCB International Conference and Exhibition in New Delhi, where FLSmidth Cement will present papers on various topics, including a paper on alternative fuels. “We are particularly excited about the impending commercial launch of our new FUELFLEX® Pyrolyzer, which uses hot meal from the lower preheater cyclones to dry and pyrolyze hard-to-burn refuse-derived fuels or biomass,” said Taneja. This innovative new equipment enables cement plants to achieve up to 100% fossil fuel replacement in the calciner, cutting CO2 emissions, diverting waste from landfills, and reducing fuel costs.
Other topics to be presented include a paper on the digital cement plant and another on supplementary cementitious materials, focusing on calcined clay. “We see growing interest in technologies that reduce the carbon intensity of cement,” explained Taneja. “Part of our core mission is to help the cement industry address and reduce its environmental impact. We are also fortunate to have some of the industry’s true sustainability leaders here in India, opening the way for collaborative innovation to solve these most pressing issues.”

A past to build the future on
“Change is a fact of life,” concluded Taneja. “This is particularly true in a dynamic and changing market such as the Indian cement industry. However, there are some things you can rely on throughout all the changes. One of those cornerstones is FLSmidth Cement. We remain committed to supplying equipment, services, and solutions that
improve the cement industry – just as we have always done.”

(Communication by the management of the company)

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CII Calls for Greater Alternative Fuel Use in Cement Industry

Published

18 hours ago

October 29, 2026

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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), through its Green Business Centre and Energy Efficiency Council, inaugurated the 16th Conference on Alternative Fuel and Raw Material Usage (AFR) in Goa on 27 October 2026. The two-day conference brought together more than 350 industry leaders, policymakers, waste management experts and technology providers to explore strategies for accelerating alternative fuel adoption in India’s cement industry.

Held under the theme ‘Preparation for Net-Zero: Alternative Fuels & Raw Material in Cement Manufacturing’, the conference focused on reducing dependence on conventional fuels, improving waste utilisation and strengthening circular economy practices across cement manufacturing operations.

E R Raj Narayanan, Chairman, AFR Conference 2026, and Business Head and Chief Manufacturing Officer, UltraTech Cement, highlighted the industry’s progress in alternative fuel adoption. He emphasised the need to scale implementation, strengthen supply chains and extend circularity beyond fuel substitution to alternative raw materials through technological innovation and industry collaboration.

Harish Adconkar, Managing Director, Goa Waste Management Corporation, highlighted Goa’s progress in scientific waste management and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production. He stated that approximately 765,000 tonnes of RDF had been supplied to cement plants, contributing to an estimated displacement of 320,000–560,000 tonnes of coal. He emphasised the importance of consistent RDF offtake and stronger coordination between urban local bodies, waste management agencies and cement manufacturers.

Dr L P Singh, Director General, National Council for Cement and Building Materials, identified AFR as an important opportunity for decarbonisation and resource efficiency. Drawing parallels with the industry’s successful utilisation of fly ash, he stressed the need to address quality, technological and economic challenges to expand alternative fuel adoption.

Dr Sharad P Kale, Special Advisor to the Chief Minister of Goa and former Head of Technology Transfer and Collaboration at BARC, emphasised treating waste as a resource. He highlighted decentralised biodegradable waste processing, reduced food waste and improved resource recovery as essential measures for minimising landfill dependence.

Kiran Ananth, Executive Director, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Green Entrepreneurship, CII-Green Business Centre, noted that India’s cement production reached approximately 491 million tonnes in FY2025-26, while the industry’s thermal substitution rate (TSR) stood at 7.5 per cent, with around 7 million tonnes of alternative fuels utilised annually.

He added that the industry had invested over Rs 12 billion in co-processing infrastructure during the past six years. Improving RDF supply reliability and quality assurance would be crucial to maximising the utilisation of existing infrastructure and accelerating industrial decarbonisation.

The conference also featured discussions on advanced AFR co-processing technologies, waste pre-processing solutions and industrial best practices for improving fuel substitution and resource recovery.

A publication titled ‘From Waste to Kiln: Scaling the Use of MSW-Derived RDF in Indian Cement Plants’ was launched during the inaugural session. The report identified inconsistent RDF supply and quality as major barriers to achieving higher thermal substitution rates.

According to the publication, many cement kilns already possess the technical capability to achieve higher alternative fuel substitution. However, variations in RDF availability, moisture content, particle size and calorific value continue to limit utilisation. The report emphasised the need to strengthen waste segregation, pre-processing and aggregation systems to establish reliable RDF supply chains.

The conference’s second-day agenda includes discussions on innovative domestic and industrial waste management solutions, alternative raw materials for low-carbon cement and strategies to increase alternative fuel utilisation across India’s cement manufacturing sector.

Concrete

Sameera Group Enters Industrial and Logistics Real Estate

Rs. 1.5 bn project to support manufacturing and supply-chain firms

Published

2 days ago

October 28, 2026

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Sameera Group has entered the industrial and logistics real estate segment with a 450,000 sq ft development in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. The group will invest Rs. 1.5 bn in the project, expanding beyond residential plotted developments into business-to-business real estate.

The proposed park will serve light manufacturing, e-commerce, third-party logistics and other supply-chain businesses. Building plan approvals have been secured, with construction expected to begin shortly. The development is scheduled to become operational within 12 to 15 months.

Sameera Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Jayakumar Murugesan said the project marked the next stage of the company’s growth after nearly four decades in land acquisition and real estate development. He attributed the choice of Sriperumbudur to its industrial activity and growth prospects.

The Grade A development will include internal movement routes and shared infrastructure for modern manufacturing and logistics operations. The group is pursuing Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Platinum certification and plans to provide rooftop solar readiness, rainwater harvesting, wastewater recycling, energy and water monitoring, and electric vehicle charging facilities.

The project is being developed amid increased demand for industrial and warehousing space in Chennai. Knight Frank’s India Warehousing Market Report 2026 recorded 8.3 mn sq ft of warehousing transactions in the city during 2025, up 42 per cent from the previous year, with manufacturing accounting for 59 per cent of demand. The Sriperumbudur-Oragadam cluster contributed 77 per cent of transactions.

Sameera Group plans to develop 5 to 6 mn sq ft across a larger industrial and logistics portfolio over the next five years, involving an estimated investment of Rs. 18 bn. Land has been acquired for projects in Chennai, Hosur and Bengaluru. Established in 1982, the group has developed more than 900 acres, sold over 13,700 residential plots, and currently has 35 projects under development and 28 in its pipeline.

Concrete

UltraTech Cement Expands in Andhra Pradesh with Rs. 26.5 bn

Petnikota plant adds 3.6 MTPA cement dispatch capacity

Published

7 days ago

October 23, 2026

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UltraTech Cement has expanded its manufacturing footprint in Andhra Pradesh with the commissioning of Petnikota Cement Works, an integrated cement plant built with an investment of around Rs. 26.5 bn. The facility is located in Petnikota village in Kolimigundla mandal of Nandyal district, in the Rayalaseema region.

Construction of the plant began in May 2025. The facility has a clinkerisation capacity of 3.3 MTPA and a cement dispatch capacity of 3.6 MTPA, strengthening the company’s production and distribution presence in the State.

The plant is expected to provide direct employment to 650 people and indirect employment to another 2,000. It has been designed to operate entirely on green energy and does not have a captive thermal power plant. The project also uses no groundwater, according to information released by the Andhra Pradesh Government.

Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Information Technology, said in the release that the facility was taken from groundbreaking to commissioning in 14 months. He described the project as a state-of-the-art addition to the company’s operations in the State and said it would create 2,650 direct and indirect employment opportunities.

Petnikota Cement Works adds to UltraTech Cement’s manufacturing capacity in Andhra Pradesh while supporting industrial activity in Nandyal district. The plant’s energy design and stated groundwater-use policy are also intended to reduce the environmental impact of its operations. The company has identified the facility as part of its continuing capacity expansion in the Indian cement market.