A stable government at the Centre will boost cement sector prospects as it will focus on infrastructure spending, said a top company official.
“The uncertainty has ended and stability is back at the Centre,” said P.R. Venketrama Raja, chairman and managing director, The Ramco Cements Ltd. “We expect the new government to focus on major infrastructure projects that will spur growth in the cement sector.”
“During the current fiscal, the cement industry might report a 7-8% growth, whereas Ramco Cements will post 10-12% growth,” said A.V. Dharmakrishnan, CEO, The Ramco Cements Ltd. The cement major has drawn up an aggressive plan of increasing its production capacity from 12 million tonnes to 20 million tonnes by 2020. It plans to invest ₹3,500 crore for this programme. A major portion of the funds would come through internal resources.
On capital expenditure, Mr. Dharmakrishnan said the firm had already invested ₹1,200 crore in greenfield and brownfield projects and multiple grinding units coming up in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha. In FY20, the company plans to invest ₹1,500 crore.
“Our expansion programme is on track. The West Bengal unit is already on stream. We expect the Odisha plant to be ready by October,Vishakapatnam plant will be ready by December, Jayanthipuram by July 2020 and Kurnool by March 2021,” said Mr. Dharmakrishnan.
On Thursday, the firm launched a new premium blended cement, Ramco Supercrete. It is touted as an alternative to 53 grade as it not only provides excellent strength but also excellent durability too. Unlike other varieties of high strength cement, it has been engineered to be crack-resistant cement with excellent workability, he said.
For the time being, the firm will produce Ramco Supercrete at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu and then, in all its plants. “Out of the total volume, we plan to produce at least 30% of the new variety during FY20,” he said.
