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BSE and NSE listed Dalmia Cement Bharat (DCBL), a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat Limited, has expanded its footprint in western region which covers Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.
DCBL is a third largest cement manufacturing company after Ultratech and ACC. It has a annual capacity of producing 24 million tonnes of cement from its 11 plants across India. It has a strong presence in north east and south part of India.
"The western region has a huge market potential. As our Belgaum plant is operational now, we wiil be able to cater the region. With this, we are now present in 20 states. We are growing at 12% every year. The company is also the category leader in super-specialty cements used for oil wells, railway sleepers and air strips and is the country's largest producer of slag cement," said Mahendra Singhi, Group CEO Cement, DCBL.
The company has recently set up a manufacturing plant at Belgum, Karnataka with the total investment of Rs 1300 crore. It will produce 2.5 million tonnes of cement every year. The plant will cater to the needs of markets like Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. The company has invested Rs 1300 crore for the facility. It is engaging with 800 dealers in the region. The installed cement capacity of Dalmia Bharat Group is of 24 MnT. In last financial year, DCBL has recorded a turnover of Rs 4140 crore.
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According to Singhi, the cement market is growing at 5.5% every year. However, the demand-supply ratio keeps changing and has a cyclical effect. The slowdown in the last three years have impacted the sector. But the future growth in infrastructure, projects like Smart Cities will help to boost the business.
The cement demand for India market is of 265 million tonnes per annum valued at Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Recently, DCBL increased its stake in OCL from 48% to 74.6%. It is exporting to markets like Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Its future export markets are Bangladesh and Nepal.
The company has recently signed a co-operation agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to conduct resource efficiency assessments and mobilise investments at its manufacturing facilities. Under the agreement, Dalmia Cement has initiated phase-II, in which the feasibility study of 27 technical papers of the Low Carbon technology roadmap will be undertaken to establish the implementation potential.
This initiative will help Dalmia Cement identify improvement opportunities in energy consumption, leading to lower GHG emission and contributing to sustainability and green cement.
