CEMENT SECTOR

Current Status : As there was increase in economic growth over various previous years,
cement industry has also continued to show increase in its growth which was 8% in 2018. But
it was in last year that there was huge slowdown in the growth of economy which affected both
the real estate sector and also infrastructure sector which further contributed to the slowdown
in the cement industry. This was due to less money with the people. Sales continued to lag
given the negative sentiments brought about by delayed projects and continuing woes of non-
banking financial companies (NBFCs).

Expectations : Government has taken several measures to counter this slowdown. It has
brought down reverse repo rate on various occasions to increase the borrowing and has also
increased investments. Seeing this scenario, it is expected that economy will soon recover and
can achieve the target of $5 Trillion by around 2030 because it is not possible to achieve it by
2025. So, future of cement industry is bright and will experience good growth rate.

The continued focus on the housing sector and rural economy is likely to have a positive
impact on the cement industry. On the infrastructure side, the continued thrust on the roads
and railways is likely to push cement demand. Capacity utilization which is currently around
65% is expected to increase to 75% due to increase in demand. Because it is expected that
government may also give income tax relief to boost the demand.