"The cement industry is closely connected with the GDP growth of the country. As consumption rises, we expect the growth rate in cement production to be 8-9 per cent," said H M Bangur, president of the Cement Manufacturers' Association and managing director of Shree Cement.
Hitesh Agarwal, research head, Angel Broking, said the growth of 9 per cent is pretty good and expects the demand and production to remain strong. According to sources in one of the top multinational cement companies operating in the country, the "outlook is positive".
K C Birla, chief financial officer, UltraTech, said, "The cement industry will not see major impact due to the IIP numbers as the demand is picking up and production is in full swing."
The performance of ACC, Ambuja Cements, Grasim and UltraTech suggests that production and despatches are on the upside. The combined production of these cement giants stood at 6.08 million tonnes in April against 5.95 million tonnes last year, whereas the sales were 5.92 million tonnes against 5.86 million tonnes.
The total capacity of the domestic cement industry stands at 189 million tonnes. The industry added 23 million tonnes in FY08, with a majority of the new capacities coming up in the last quarter.
