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.
While Wal-Mart is facing delay in the rollout of its retail plan, Carrefour SA, the world's second-largest retail chain, is still struggling to finalise its Indian partner even after six years of persistent search.
Eighteen months hence, Reliance Retail is a 600-store chain, while Wal-Mart, which had planned to start operations by the year-end, has deferred the launch to 2009.
The company is among the largest exporters of cement and clinker via Gujarat ports. "The step will not have any impact on cement prices. The step taken by the government is a good and sensible one. The export ban offered no assistance in making cement available in the domestic market as a majority of the exports was in clinker form," said A L Kapur, managing director, Ambuja Cements.
The acquisitions, costing more than $1.6 billion, have helped Holcim corner close to quarter of the country's 189 million-tonne cement market. Lafarge, which entered India in 1999 by acquiring the cement division of Tata Steel and bought out Raymond's cement facility in 2001, has a capacity of only 5.5 million tonnes. Holcim also plans to invest around Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the next five years to set up plants.
The 189-million tonne domestic cement industry is gearing up to tackle attrition in the industry.
The statement from the industry came minutes after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said around noon that the government was trying to persuade cement companies to lower prices. On Thursday evening, India's largest cement manufacturer ACC, which accounts for over one-tenth of the market, had announced its intent to freeze prices for two-three months.
French cement major Lafarge SA, the world's second-largest cement maker, has emerged the frontrunner in the race to acquire the ready-mix concrete business of engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro.
According to industry analysts, this will have a marginal effect because hardly 10 per cent of the cement sold in the country has the maximum retail price of Rs 250 a bag (50 kg). H M Bangur, president, Cement Manufacturers' Association and managing director of Shree Cement, said: "Such a measure will have impact on certain regions of the country where the prices are on the higher side. This will include the north-east, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Mumbai."
Bestway Cement, part of the UK-based Bestway Group, is probably the first company from Pakistan not to take fresh orders. In a letter (of which Business Standard has a copy) to the commerce secretary, Zameer Choudrey, group chief executive, Bestway, said, "Because of logistical problems, we are unable to deliver the cement to them (Indian importers) and hence we stopped taking new orders over a month ago."
The tables have turned. Organised retail, which used to cite real estate as its first constraint, is being wooed by developers as there is a sudden surplus created by completion of pending projects and new construction. According to an industry analyst, the rental for a retailer used to constitute 4-5 per cent of its total revenue in the years 2001 and 2002, rising to 7-7.5 per cent in the later years. Industry analysts believe a retailer's profit would get eroded
Steep pre-paid tariff cuts at the start of the year in January could mean lower revenue growth for telecom operators in the March 2008 quarter. Moreover, minutes of usage (MOU) are unlikely to be very much higher since industry watchers feel users will take some amount of time to react to the tariff cuts. The operating profit growth these telcos could be in the region of 6-7 per cent. However, net profits may remain flat sequentially due to foreign exchange fluctuations.
Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is evaluating a plan to set up its third refinery at Jamnagar in an ambitious project to reach a total capacity of 100 million metric tonne per annum, the largest at a single location in the world. The company has appointed a global oil and refinery consultancy firm to evaluate the feasibility of the project, which will help capitalise the increased requirement for global crude distillation capacity.
The Tata Group, one of India's largest business houses, has made summer internship offers to 19 students of five leading US business schools this year
The French retailer, which has been talking to various Indian business houses for a possible partnership to roll out its wholesale operations in the cash- and-carry format, has also recruited around 50 people.
The principal delay is because the defence forces, which are expected to vacate some spectrum for mobile service providers, are yet to identify locations for some sites for an alternative optic fibre network that is being developed for them.
According to sources, the company will invest $350-400 million in the proposed plant. This will be the first foray by an Indian company for manufacturing cement in West Asia which was so far viewed as an export market.
The cement industry is likely to add around 15 million tonnes of fresh capacity in 2007-08 - a little over half of the 27 million tonnes it had talked about at the beginning of the financial year.
Grasim Industries, a part of the Aditya Birla group, has decided to sell 53.3 per cent stake in Shree Digvijay Cement Company (SDCC) to Cimpor, a Portuguese cement maker, for Rs 322 crore (Rs 3.22 billion).
The arrival of new crop will start by the end of October, especially from Madhya Pradesh.
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