UltraTech Cement may present details of second phase of expansion by Dec

Company likely to present details of its second phase of expansion by December this year

UltraTech Cement informed analysts last week that the company has nearly stitched up its next expansion plan and will present it to the board for approval, with the intention of revealing it by December. With this latest phase of expansion, Aditya Birla Group company will establish a 60 million tonne (mt) lead over Adani Cement’s envisaged capacities.

In August, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, informed shareholders in August of its ambition to reach a capacity of 200 mt.

Last financial year, Adani Cement shared its plans to double its capacity to 140 mt by 2028.

In May 2022, Gautam Adani’s business group announced its intention to acquire two cement units —Ambuja Cements and ACC. The $6.6 billion acquisition, which was completed in September 2022, made Adani Cement the second-largest cement producer in India, and the closest rival to UltraTech, with the Birla company still maintaining a lead of 48.3 mt.

Since the Adani announcement, UltraTech has revealed two expansion targets — first, to add 22.6 mt by 2024-25 and later a 200 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) goal for 2030. However, UltraTech has denied any linkage and called it a well-thought-out planned step.
 

Meanwhile, Adani Cement made its first acquisition, Sanghi Cement, in August of this year, following the ACC-Ambuja takeover. With this development, UltraTech now operates with a cement capacity of 132.45 mt, while Adani Cement will operate at 73.6 mt upon completion of the Sanghi acquisition.
 

Both companies have shared two expansion milestones for the coming years, with UltraTech maintaining a 60 mtpa lead over its closest rival.