History of Cement Industry in India

The history of cement industry in India begins in 1904 when the first cement factory was started in Chennai but was not too successful. But nevertheless India relentless in its attempts in 1913-1914 started the manufacture of Portland cement on a large scale with die Indian Cement Co. Ltd.

The World War I gave a much needed boost to the cement industry leading to the installation of 6 new plants during 1922-1923 with a manufacturing capacity of 5.59 Lac Tons.

By 1934 there were about 11 cement companies out of which 10 merged into Associated Cement Co. Ltd. In 1937 the Dalmia Cement Group was formed which set up plants in Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.  By the year 1947 there were 18 cement factories with a total installed capacity of a whopping 21.5 lakh tons.

The Indian Cement Industry is second largest in the world next to china. It constitutes of 140 large cement companies and over 300 mini cement plants which contribute around 300 Million Tons Approx.  The top 10 cement companies in India are

1. ACC Ltd
2. Ambuja Cements Ltd
3. Ultra Tech Cement Ltd
4. India Cement Ltd
5. Shree Cement Ltd
6. Dalmia Cement Ltd
7. Prism Cement Ltd
8. Madras Cement Ltd
9. Birla Cement Ltd
10. JK Cement Ltd

India’s cement production in year 2010 was 300 million tons and is expected to double to 550 million tons by 2020. In the past decade the cement industry has grown a great deal from 106 million tons to 300 million tons which means the production has more than doubled.

Even through tough conditions due to the economic slowdown the Indian Cement Industry has sustained its growth rate. This is due to the fact that every major player has increased their installed capacity. This is because of the rapidly increasing demand for cement in the market which has been quite remarkable over the years.

Thus the contribution of the cement industry to the Indian economy has steadily risen through the decade and is expected to continue the same way in the years to come.

The annual demand for cement grows at about 8-10% as in the last decade but the per capita consumption is quite poor compared to the world average. While china has the highest of 1380 kg per capita cement consumption India has mere 230 kg consumption.

The growth of Indian economy has slowed down in recent times. The key industries that increase the cement demand are the real estate sector, industry expansion products and infrastructure which we must aim to improve. The cement industry has continued its growth rate over the decade and the demand growth has overtaken the economic growth rate in the past three years.

The cement demand grows roughly 1.5 times the GDP growth rate and the turnover has been around over 9 billion dollars in the previous year. With the increase in infrastructure development such as highways the global demand has led to the increase of production capacity.

Thus if the global and domestic demand continues to grow the contribution of cement industry toward the economy will surely increase and turn out to be extremely profitable.

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