Money Market Information

The Communication Industry in India is one of the rapidly emerging sectors in India and is estimated to surface as the second biggest international telecom market. As per the report carried out by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Indian communication industry has registered a 3.5% increase in its total telecom subscribers in December 2009. The sector touched 562.21 million in its total number of subscribers within a month, against 543.20 million in November 2009.

The growth in communication industry was triggered by an increase in the revenues generated from both landline and mobile facilities. On December 31, 2009 the sector earned the revenue of USD 8.56 billion. As per the Business Monitor International report, the nation is all set to include 8 to 10 million cellular phone subscribers on monthly basis. At this pace the communication industry is expected to encompass more than half of India's population i.e. 612 million cellular phone subscribers by mid 2012.

In addition, as per a research carried out by Nokia, the communications sector is estimated to surface as the biggest driving component in India's GDP with a contribution of about 15.4% by the FY2014.

India as an emerging Value-Added Services Market

As per a research conducted by Stanford University, Indian mobile value-added services (MVAS) are expected to reach USD 2.74 bn by the FY2010. To benefit from the emerging MVAS market in India, Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel Limited are all set to introduce online cellular phone applications in Indian retail stores. While Bharti Airtel will offer around 1,250 applications, Reliance Communications' applications will soon be accessible to its GSM customers by Feb 2010.

India as an emerging telecom equipment manufacturing Market

The manufacturing of Cellular phone in India is predicted to expand at an annual rate of 28.3% till the FY 2011 which can be translated as a production of 107 million mobile handsets by 2010. The production would automatically generate profits and is predicted to increase at an annual rate of 26.6% till 2011, reaching the target of USD13.7 billion.

Chief Investments in the Communication Industry in India

Over the past one decade, the flourishing Indian Communication industry has been successful in drawing the attention of conglomerates that have invested and are willing to invest more in the sector. With the influx of new telecom giants in Indian market, the investments are likely to gain immense momentum:

Investment of USD 6 bn by Vodafone Essar for the next 3 fiscal years in order to expand its list of cellular phone subscribers to 100 million against the existing 40 million.
By 2010, Reliance Communications (RCom) is expecting to increase the total number of telecom towers by constructing 56,596 telecom towers and attaining the preset target of 100,000.
Telenor, Norway based telecom giant has purchased 7% of shares in Unitech Wireless and now possesses 67.25% by bringing in an investment of USD 431.70 million
Indian government owned telecom player, BSNL will invest USD1.17 billion in its WiMax scheme
A proposal of foreign direct investment worth USD 660.1 million by Federal Agency for State Property Management of the Russian Federation has been recently approved by the Indian government. The Agency would be acquiring 20% stake in Sistema-Shyam after bringing in the investment.
A USD 1 billion investment will be brought in by Tata Teleservices in its newly introduced GSM facility Tata DoCoMo.

Future of Communication Industry in India

Indian Communication Industry has a flourishing future in its value-added services market. The pre-set target of the 11th plan from FY 2007 - 12 is to provide 600 million cellular phone connectivity aided by an investment of USD 74 billion.

Moreover, it is estimated that by the FY 2012 the profits generated by Indian Communication Industry will touch USD 55 billion against the current USD 31 billion.

India, being the second largest cement producer in the world after China with a total capacity of 151.2 Million Tones (MT), has got a huge cement industry. With the government of India giving boost to various infrastructure projects, housing facilities and road networks, the cement industry in India is currently growing at an enviable pace. More growth in the Indian cement industry is expected in the coming years. It is also predicted that the cement production in India would rise to 236.16 MT in FY11. It's also expected to rise to 262.61 MT in FY12.

The cement industry in India is dominated by around 20 companies, which account for almost 70% of the total cement production in India. In the present year, the Indian cement companies have produced 11 MT cement during April-September 2009. It took the total cement production in FY09 to 231 MT.

Industry Background

The history of the cement industry in India dates back to the 1889 when a Kolkata-based company started manufacturing cement from Argillaceous. But the industry started getting the organized shape in the early 1900s. In 1914, India Cement Company Ltd was established in Porbandar with a capacity of 10,000 tons and production of 1000 installed. The World War I gave the first initial thrust to the cement industry in India and the industry started growing at a fast rate in terms of production, manufacturing units, and installed capacity. This stage was referred to as the Nascent Stage of Indian Cement Industry. In 1927, Concrete Association of India was set up to create public awareness on the utility of cement as well as to propagate cement consumption.

The cement industry in India saw the price and distribution control system in the year 1956, established to ensure fair price model for consumers as well as manufacturers. Later in 1977, government authorized new manufacturing units (as well as existing units going for capacity enhancement) to put a higher price tag for their products. A couple of years later, government introduced a three-tier pricing system with different pricing on cement produced in high, medium and low cost plants.

Cement industry, in any country, plays a major role in the growth of the nation. Cement industry in India was under full control and supervision of the government. However, it got relief at a large extent after the economic reform. But government interference, especially in the pricing, is still evident in India. In spite of being the second largest cement producer in the world, India falls in the list of lowest per capita consumption of cement with 125 kg. The reason behind this is the poor rural people who mostly live in mud huts and cannot afford to have the commodity. Despite the fact, the demand and supply of cement in India has grown up. In a fast developing economy like India, there is always large possibility of expansion of cement industry.

Cement Industry in India

Jobs in Cement Industry
L & T Cement Plants
ACC Ltd. Cement Plants
CCI Cement Plants
Export of Indian Cement
Types of Cement in India
Gujarat Ambuja Plants in India
Top 10 Companies
Top 10 Cement Companies
Mangalam Cement

J K Lakshmi Cement
J K Cement
Madras Cement
India Cements
Sanghi Industries
Dalmia Cement
ITD Cementation India
Dalmia Cement Bharat
Gujarat Ambuja Cements

Cement Production and Growth

Domestic demand plays a major role in the fast growth of cement industry in India. In fact the domestic demand of cement has surpassed the economic growth rate of India. The cement consumption is expected to rise more than 22% by 2009-10 from 2007-08. In cement consumption, the state of Maharashtra leads the table with 12.18% consumption, followed by Uttar Pradesh. In terms of cement production, Andhra Pradesh leads the list with 14.72% of production, while Rajasthan remains at second position.

The production of cement in India grew at a rate of 9.1% during 2006-07 against the total production of 147.8 MT in the previous fiscal year. During April to October 2008-09, the production of cement in India was 101.04 MT comparing to 95.05 MT during the same period in the previous year. During October 2009, the total cement production in India was 12.37 MT compared to a production of 11.61 MT in the same month in the previous year. The cement companies are also increasing their productions due to the high market demand. The cement companies have seen a net profit growth rate of 85%. With this huge success, the cement industry in India has contributed almost 8% to India's economic development.

Technology Up-gradation

Cement industry in India is currently going through a technological change as a lot of upgradation and assimilation is taking place. Currently, almost 93% of the total capacity is based entirely on the modern dry process, which is considered as more environment-friendly. Only the rest 7% uses old wet and semi-dry process technology. There is also a huge scope of waste heat recovery in the cement plants, which lead to reduction in the emission level and hence improves the environment.

Cement Despatches

Cement industry in India has successfully maintained almost total capacity utilization levels, which resulted in maintaining a 10% growth rate. In 2006-07, the total despatch was 155 MT, which rose up to 170 MT in 2007-08. The month of October 2009 saw a cement despatch of 12.22 MT, which was almost 9% higher than the total cement despatch of 11.21 MT in the same month in the previous year.

	2008-09 (Apr-Oct) (in MT)	2007-08 (Apr-Oct) in MT
Production	101.04	95.05
Despatches (Excluding Export)	100.24	94.33
Export	1.46	2.16
Capacity Utilization (%)	85	93

Major Players in Indian Cement Industry

There are a number of players prevailing in the cement industry in India. However, there are around 20 big names that account for more than 70% of the total cement production in India. The total installed capacity is distributed over around 129 plants, owned by 54 major companies across the nation.

Following are some of the major names in the Indian cement industry:

Company	Production	Installed Capacity
ACC	17,902	18,640
Gujarat Ambuja	15,094	14,860
Ultratech	13,707	17,000
Grasim	14,649	14,115
India Cements	8,434	8,810
JK Group	6,174	6,680
Jaypee Group	6,316	6,531
Century	6,636	6,300
Madras Cements	4,550	5,470
Birla Corp.	5,150	5,113

Mergers and Acquisitions in Cement Industry in India

UltraTech Cement is going to absorb its sister concern Samruddhi Cement to become biggest cement company in India.
World's leading foreign funds like HSBC, ABN Amro, Fidelity, Emerging Market Fund and Asset Management Fund have together bought 7.5% of India Cements (ICL) at a cost of US$ 124.91 million.
Cimpor, a Cement company of Portugal, has bought 53.63% stake that Grasim Industries had in Shree Digvijay Cement.
French cement company Vicat SA bought 6.67% share of Sagar Cement at a cost of US$ 14.35 million.
Holcim now holds 56% stake of Ambuja Cement. Previously it held 22% of stake. The company utilized various open market transactions to increase its stakes. It invested US$ 1.8 billion for that.

Recent Investments in the Indian Cement Industry

In a recent announcement, the second largest cement company in South India, Dalmia Cement declared that it's going to invest more than US$ 652.6 million in the next 2-3 years to add 10 MT capacity.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure is going to build up cement plants with a total capacity of yearly 20 MT in the next 5 years. For this, the company will invest US$ 2.1 billion.
India Cements is going to set up 2 thermal power plants in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu at a cost of US$ 104 billion.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Cementation is also going to set up a 5 MT integrated cement plant in Maharashtra. It will invest US$ 463.2 million for that.
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd has signed a MoU with Assam Mineral Development Corporation Limited to set up a 2 MT cement plant. The estimated project cost is US$ 221.36 million.
Rungta Mines (RML) is also planning to invest US$ 123 million for setting up a 1 MT cement plant in Orissa.