ACC, the country's largest cement maker, is setting up a wholly owned subsidiary to scale up its ready mix concrete business under a new chief executive officer.
Shares of cement companies rallied on Tuesday on hopes of improved quarterly results.
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.
Swiss cement maker Holcim, which had made an open offer to pick up 36.20 per cent shares of ACC, would also buy out the stakeholding of US-based AIG and GIC of Singapore in Ambuja Cement India Limited
With the increased death rate in the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, domestic cement companies are in no better condition than they were in the April-June quarter of FY21 when the country faced nationwide lockdown. "This wave has had high death rate which has impacted the business. "We are in no better situation than last (year) April. "Deaths of drivers, dealers, contractors and also employees have hit the industry really very hard since April (FY22)," M Ravinder Reddy, director of Bharathi Cements said.
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.
After subdued earnings in the first half amid global headwinds, India Inc is taking a cautious approach on their capital expenditure (capex) for the second half of the financial year ending March 2025, according to management commentary. Minutes from the October monetary policy meeting show the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) optimism about private investments picking up.
Shree Cement beats ACC in market value, Lupin ahead of Dr Reddy's Labs
Of the top four companies, which collectively hold more than half of India's market share, two have pitted Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Deol against each other.
'I believe that as we produce more, our cost will come down further. We will maintain our competitiveness.'
The director general of investigations and registration, in its 30-page report submitted to MRTPC, said that industry body CMA was instrumental in fixing prices in the sector.
10 companies and industry body penalised for cartelisation, likely to take legal recourse.
Ahmedabad-based firm to fund deal through equal amount of equity and debt.
The cement plants at Barmana (Bilaspur district) and Darlaghat (Solan district) had closed operations on December 14 due to the dispute between the company and truckers engaged in the carriage of cement and clinkers. According to a government statement, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, "We have arrived at consensus, thereby protecting the interests of both the truck-operator unions and the management, besides welfare of all others who were being directly or indirectly hit by the stalemate."
The special court-appointed custodian is to sell 1.62 crore (16.2 million) shares of Associated Cement Companies Ltd and 1.25 million shares of Snowcem Ltd held by Harshad Mehta group entities through a public auction.
Swiss building material major Holcim has said its $6.38 billion deal with Asia's richest man Gautam Adani's group is tax-free. Holcim had on Sunday signed a binding agreement with the Adani Group to sell its business in India -- about a 63 per cent stake in Ambuja Cement, which owns a 54.53 stake in ACC (of which 4.48 per cent is direct shareholding). "So, according to our analysis, it is a tax-free transaction," Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch said while addressing investors after the deal on Monday." When asked about the tax implications, he said: "Never know if any complication arises, but we assume that we will get the 6.4 billion Swiss Francs as net proceeds." As per the deal, Adani Group will acquire Holcim's full stake in Ambuja Cement and ACC for CHF (Swiss franc) 6.4 billion ($6.38 billion).
The cement index, consisting of the top five cement companies has appreciated by almost 16 per cent.
Players like UltraTech Cement more expensive than ITC and HUL; others catching up fast.
Its rich valuation with a PE of 62 times raises downside risk for investors
HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank remained among the top mutual fund (MF) buys for the second consecutive month in September. MFs deployed a net of Rs 15,000 crore into these stocks during the two-month period (August-September), revealed Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research reports.
Vrinda scripted history by becoming the first uncapped player to command a staggering bid of Rs 1.3 crore
The combined market capitalisation of Adani group companies increased to Rs 15.11 trillion last week. As a result, Gautam Adani's family raced ahead of Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, reclaiming the title of India's wealthiest promoter.
A sum of Rs 7060 crore is provided in the current fiscal for the project of developing one hundred Smart Cities.
The much-talked-about sale of Ambuja Cement and ACC by Holcim Group will see the single-biggest outflow of foreign capital from the country if the two cement firms are acquired by Indian investors. The deal, valued at nearly $10.35 billion, will put in the shade Cairn Energy Plc's exit from India in 2010, when it sold Cairn India to Vedanta Group for $4.48 billion. According to various reports, big business groups such as AV Birla, JSW Group, and Adani Group are in the fray to acquire Holcim's assets in India.
No injury or casualty was reported in the incident, they said.
Stocks to watch: ACC, Ambuja Cements, India Cements, Shree Cement, Ultra Tech Cement.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of ACC Cement, ruling that if a product is manufactured by one firm and sold by another with the latter's brand name, that sale would attract sales tax, not the first transaction.
Seven out of the 10 listed firms of Adani group have received show cause notices from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for alleged violation of related party transactions and non-compliance with listing regulations, the companies said in their regulatory filings to the stock exchanges. While group's flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd, renewable energy firm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) and city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd said Sebi sent notices of their parent or holding company controlled by conglomerate's chairman Gautam Adani, ports company Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Adani Power, electricity transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions, and commodities firm Adani Wilmar said they have received Sebi notices.
Associated Cement Companies Ltd allotted 10,700 shares under a employee stock option plan.
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