India has miles to go in terms of cement consumption and there is enough headroom for strong cement demand.

The demand growth trend picked up steam in FY18. Expectations are rife that FY19 will consolidate these gains and result in higher capacity utilisation, if not pricing power.

Cement is never used as cement alone but is always converted to a value-added product in practice.

If the exit quarter of FY 18 is an indication of things to come, we are going to have a bumper FY 19 for the cement industry this year. In fact, the last quarter was so good in terms of demand, that it pulled the yearly growth number to an impressive 6 per cent as against a dismal minus 1 per cent in the previous year.

Green shoots in IHB (Independent House Building) segment were witnessed in the last fiscal. Further, revival in rural economy is also aiding demand growth.

Cement demand is expected to grow by 4% to reach 300 million tonne in 2018-19. The number of infrastructure projects planned by the government are now in various phases where work is expected to progress faster.

The eight core industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).