NEW DELHI: Shree Cement on Wednesday said it would invest Rs. 1,000 crore in the current fiscal to expand its production capacity, including setting up two greenfield plants and installing four captive power plants.

Chandan Kishore Kant / Mumbai April 22, 2009, 0:20 IST

The ban on cement exports imposed last year has significantly pushed down overall exports of the building material, hitting an eight-year-low in FY09. Industry players and analysts said the current financial year might not be any different and exports would around the same levels.

Continuous fall in local cement sales coupled with decline in coal prices internationally compelled the manufacturers to reduce the price by Rs 40-45 per 50 kg bag in the local market, sources said.

Chandan Kishore Kant / Mumbai April 10, 2009, 0:45 IST

The growth rate of the domestic cement industry has hit a five-year low, in terms of both production and despatches, in FY09. The industry registered a growth of 7.75 per cent and 7.91 per cent in production and despatches respectively.

Steel use could save construction period and give more usable space
Concrete could face competition from steel as a better alternative building material, said the JSW Steel vice-chairman and managing director, Mr Sajjan Jindal.

On Monday, JSW Steel and UK-based Severfield Rowen Plc formed a 50:50 joint venture company JSW Severfield Structures Ltd.

The Aditya Birla Group is keen on acquiring coal mines to feed its cement business and is scouting for the mines in South Africa and Indonesia.

"We are looking for mines.... We have just started thinking on that," UltraTech Cement President and CFO K C Birla told reporters after the company's annual general meeting here today.

UltraTech is an Aditya Birla Group company engaged in the cement business.

Birla, however, said it was too premature to provide any further details now and declined to make further comments on possible acquisitions.

T E Narasimhan State-owned Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd (TNPL) is planning to invest Rs 1,000 crore to expand its paper making capacity to four lakh tonnes a year from current 2.45 lakh tonnes. NPL also considering diversifying into cement manufacturing business, using waste wet lime sludge generated from its paper making operations and fly ash generated from its power boilers. The company is awaiting the state government's approval for both proposals.

Infrastructure sector growth declined to 3.6% in April against 5.9% in the year-ago month. Core sector growth for April 2008 declined to 3.6 per cent from 5.9 per cent in the same month last year on account of a huge fall in production of petroleum refinery products and electricity. The index comprises production data of six sectors.

biogas plants don't function well when ambient temperatures are low and hence remain out of use for greater part of the year, in the hills for example. The plants are most efficient when the