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Housing slump hit cement biz growth: Birla

Slow growth in infrastructure and housing development impacted growth of the cement sector during fiscal 2011-12, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, UltraTech Cement, said at the company?s 12th annual general meeting held in Mumbai on Thursday.

Slow growth in infrastructure and housing development impacted growth of the cement sector during fiscal 2011-12, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, UltraTech Cement, said at the company?s 12th annual general meeting held in Mumbai on Thursday. Hike in energy and freight rates also led to spike in operating costs, posing further challenges for the sector.

?The demand-supply mismatch continued. With the industry?s proposed capacity expansion of around 71 million tonne between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2015, it will be no different for the next two to three years. I believe the short-term prospects for the industry appear bearish,? Birla said.

However, taking a bullish stance on the sector?s prospects over medium to long term, he said, ?We look up to the government to support the cement industry in stoking its growth through initiatives like reducing the tax burden and ensuring availability of linkage coal.?

?Today, we stand at an inflection point. Our balance sheet is strong with robust financial indicators.?

UltraTech?s cement capacity, currently at 52 mt, will be scaled to 62 mt by the next fiscal, while its current power capacity at 529 MW will be raised to 659 MW by the next fiscal, he added.

Sharing plans for the R12,000 crore capital expenditure, Birla said it will be utilised for clinkerisation plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka together with grinding units, bulk packaging terminals and ready mix concrete plants and waste-heat recovery systems.

Most of the projects are slated to go upstream by early fiscal 2013-14, he added.

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First published on: 31-08-2012 at 00:45 IST
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