Though it was supposed to be an interim budget, it has given a direction for the whole year by announcing different schemes to boost disposable income, which will eventually help revive consumer demand, including for cement.

Indian cement industry, the second largest in the world, has witnessed a revival for demand during FY19. The industry reported a positive growth of 4.8 per cent and 6.5 per cent in FY16 and FY18 respectively and a marginally negative growth in FY16.

The logistics sector is fundamental to the development of a country. Logistics is a sector where the trend is determined by the country's overall economic performance.

With cement industry growing over 13 per cent in H1FY19, capacity utilisation is picking up pace. But price hikes are still in wait.

Even as cement industry is saddled with excess capacity of over 150 million tonnes (MT), and implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is in full swing leading to consolidation in the industry, the cement players are thinking it is the right time to chalk out expansion plans, via greenfield and brownfield projects.

Total coal production in India during April-August 2018 was 264 million tonne (MT) and recorded a growth of 10 per cent y-o-y. It was mainly aided by 12 per cent growth in production by Coal India (216 MT) during the first five months of FY19.

“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.