India is today the second largest producer of cement in world with an installed

capacity of close to 159.43 million tons per year. 95% of cement is consumed
domestically and only 5% is exported.

An increased outflow in infrastructure

sector, by the government as well as private builders, has raised a significant

demand of cement in India. It is the key raw material in construction industry.
Also, it has highly influenced those bigger companies to participate in the
growing sector. At least 125 plants set up by the big companies in India with
about 300 other small scale cement manufacturers, to fulfill the growing demand
of cement. Being one of the vital industries, the cement industry contributes to
the nation's socioeconomic development. The sum total utilization of cement in a
year indicates the country's economic growth.
Cement plant was first set up in Calcutta, in 1889. At that time, the
cement used to manufacture from Argillaceous. In 1904, the first organized set
up to manufacture cement was commenced in Madras, which was named South
India Industries Limited. Again in 1914, another cement manufacturing unit was
set up in Porbandar, Gujarat, but this time it was licensed. In the early years of
that era, the demand for the cement tremendously exceeded but only after few
years, the industry faced a severe downfall. To overcome from this the worsening
situation, the Concrete Association of India was founded in 1927. The
organization has two prime goals, one was to create awareness about utility of
cement and another was to encourage cement utilization.