Cement maker Dalmia Bharat Ltd has said that the government's continued focus on the infrastructure and housing sectors builds "optimism" for the cement industry and the company has committed to a capex of over Rs 9,000 crore to expand its manufacturing capacity over the next few years to meet the growing demand.
According to the latest annual report of Dalmia Bharat Ltd, the increased capital expenditure committed by the government in successive budgets, the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme to boost the manufacturing sector and continuous commitment towards the housing sector, are expected to drive cement demand in the country.
"Aligned with the government's vision of building a stronger India, we committed a CAPEX of Rs 9,000 crore+ over the next few years. We are eyeing greenfield units and the debottlenecking of our existing plants to achieve our targeted capacity addition," said Dalmia Bharat.
Dalmia Bharat has a Cement production capacity of 35.9 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) and aims to achieve a production capacity of 48.5 MTPA in FY24. Over the next decade, it expects to expand capacity to about 110-130 MTPA.
"As a step forward towards our vision of achieving 48.5 MTPA capacity by 2024 and 130 MTPA capacity by 2030, we have committed Rs 1,988 crore towards CAPEX during this year," it said.
Presently it has the country's fourth-largest cement manufacturing capacity with a strong presence in Southern and Eastern India and is aggressively expanding its footprint across the rest of the country. "Our aim is to be a pan-India cement manufacturer, with a 130 MTPA cement manufacturing capacity by 2030," it said.
The company, however, said that "Notwithstanding the challenges, India's cement sector is poised for strong growth, driven by robust growth anticipated from the individual housing segment, buoyed by the growth in rural income and the government's focus on the affordable housing segment.
"The government's push towards infrastructure and the boom in industrial sector demand, driven by increased warehouse requirement for e-commerce and data centres for back offices, is expected to further add to cement demand in the country," it said.
"To independently focus on the refractory business, Dalmia-OCL, the refractory business of the Dalmia Bharat Group, has merged all its domestic businesses into a single consolidated entity as Dalmia Bharat Refractories Ltd. (DBRL)," it said. In the financial year ended on March 31, 2022, Dalmia Bharat Ltd reported revenue of Rs 11,286 crore from operation
