IRM India Affiliate, Ultratech to bolster risk-readiness in cement sector

The two will be organising webinars, roundtables, industry meetings, and thought leadership articles towards knowledge building for the sector

Institute of Risk Management (IRM) India Affiliate has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UltraTech Cement Limited to work on enhancing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and risk intelligence in the cement sector.

The organisation will work with UltraTech to raise awareness about ERM and build resilience in the sector.

The collaboration is part of IRM India Affiliate’s long-term vision of building risk resilience and a robust ecosystem of risk-intelligent organisations across sectors. As a part of this knowledge partnership, IRM India Affiliate and UltraTech Cement will be organising webinars, roundtables, industry meetings, and thought leadership articles towards knowledge building for the sector.

Atul Daga, Executive Director and CFO, UltraTech, has also joined IRM India Affiliate’s Strategic Advisory Board.

“UltraTech Cement has well-defined ERM and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) processes in line with international standards and has also institutionalized sustainability across its value chain future-proofing its business,” said Hersh Shah, CEO, IRM India Affiliate.

According to an RBI Bulletin, India’s cement industry has made remarkable progress, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 36 per cent between 1996 and 2017, moving from 1.12 tonnes/t to 0.719 tonnes/t between these years, the company said.

The Indian cement industry ranked second in the world, after China, in terms of production and consumption, is considered to be one of the most environmentally sentient industries with the lowest carbon footprint.

In the next 20 years, over 250 million people are likely to shift to India's cities. This will create a huge demand for cement, and may cause a surge in the use of inputs. This would, in the process give rise to the need for mitigation strategies to avoid environmental, sustainability, health, natural resources, and cybersecurity risks. The role of ERM will be crucial to ensure the achievement of these objectives.

Speaking about the association, Daga said, “Risk management is key to building a sustainable business. UltraTech has developed a comprehensive risk management framework and integrated ESG into its ERM process. We are delighted to partner with the Institute of Risk Management to further strengthen our enterprise risk management process and build a risk awareness culture for the industry. We look forward to this association being a mutually enriching one.”

UltraTech, a  flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, is the largest maker of grey cement and ready-mix concrete (RMC) in India. It is the world's third largest cement producer and has a consolidated grey cement capacity of 126.75 MTPA.

IRM, a leading professional body for ERM qualifications across 140 countries, publishes research and guidance, and professional standards across the world. It also runs the CRO Circle with Deloitte India’s Risk Advisory. It recently ventured into the school segment by collaborating with Mindler to develop risk-literacy for 8th to 12th grade students through its Enterprise Risk Career Program.