FLSmidth delivers sustainable productivity to the global mining and cement industries through engineering, equipment and service solutions. In an interview with ICR, a spokesperson from FLSmidth shares the investment plans for C&A cement vertical for creating manufacturing capacity in India.

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.

If you look at quality control part of the Indian cement business, we have come up with a solution that is completely modular. In India, quality control is not given the right kind of importance in terms of allocation of funds.

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.

The April-June 2018 (Q1) report card of some major cement companies is out, and it has highlighted the major and persistent structural concern affecting the industry - the absence of price hikes.

Makarand Marathe, Director, Cement Division, Thyssenkrupp Industries India (tkII) believes that even as India’s demand for cement shows signs of gradual recovery, equipment makers need to prepare themselves to engage with an increasingly discerning customer.

Consolidation is in the full swing in the Indian Cement Industry. The pace has accelerated over the last four years. It has not been happening just because of operational reasons, but heavy debt built up by some players.

Automatic bag applicator or placer, specifically for PP/HDPE woven stitched bags because till date no technology supplier has developed such a machine for those kinds of bags.

The biggest global cement trend is overcapacity and the rise of China as a cement making superpower. I have spent a lot of time in China and the country is completely revamping its entire cement business to provide greater capacity and quality.