The Indian cement industry is wary of importing equipment from China on doubts of efficiency and life of the machineries, officials of domestic cement companies said.
ACC, UltraTech and other cement makers are investing over Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) to add 118 million tonnes of fresh capacity in the current five-year plan (2007-12).
Chinese equipment is comparatively cheaper than those from Europe. Puneet Dalmia, managing director, Dalmia Cement, said, "At present, we have no plans to bring machinery from China as there are unclear evidences regarding how long the plant would last."
Cement majors such as ACC and Shree Cement has imported a small part of their equipment need from China, but these do not make part of the main cement plant.
H M Bangur, chairman and managing director, Shree Cement, and president of Cement Manufacturers' Association, said, "The industry is definitely looking at China but with lot of caution. As the industry is in a learning process regarding Chinese machinery, it is importing some equipment for evaluating performance."
A source from one of the leading multinational cement companies with India operations, said, "Chinese machinery for cement plants is significantly cheaper and under-priced. However, we only go for low-risk machinery (peripheral equipment) from China where we can have some cost savings."
However, he added that it was still to be seen whether equipment from China could stood the test of time and become a reliable substitute.
A K Saraogi, chief financial officer, Kanpur-based JK Cement, said, "We do not import machinery directly from China. We have placed our orders with world's leading player in the sector, FL Smith Cement Machinery Company, a Denmark-based firm. If that company sources equipment from China, we do not see it as problematic as the Dutch firm is a renowned one."
Denmark, Germany, France, Japan and the US are the leading cement equipment exporters. According to a Mumbai-based cement analyst, so far the industry has not placed equipment orders with Chinese firms fearing the life-span of plants.
