“Cement production continues to do well with the low base effect helping growth. Also it is indicative of advance in infra spending on roads by the government and housing – especially affordable housing,” said CARE Ratings in a recent report.

The performance of 3,292 companies in Q1 FY19 over the last year (Q1 FY18) reveals an improvement, with net sales registering a double-digit growth during the quarter over Q1 FY18 performance.

The progress of monsoon across the country has been near normal over the period since June 1, 2018 up to July 25, 2018, with the weighted average cumulative rainfall was just 3 per cent short of the normal rainfall, while the margin of error is pegged at 5 per cent.

The onset of the south-west monsoon, which began on June 1, 2018 has reached the eastern regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan, states a report from CARE Ratings.

GST has scored a few goals – subsuming multiple taxes and a common rate structure – over the last one year. But for achieving simplification and reaping its full efficiency, it has a long way to go.

The sector has benefited from the way GST has infused efficiency in terms of logistics and warehousing which has helped the industry save both time and costs.

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.

Two areas where we evidently see growth from for the cement industry is from housing and infrastructure.