UltraTech surpasses 150 million tonne of production capacity

“Reaching this milestone is symbolic of India’s ascent on the global stage and demonstrates the dynamism and scale of Indian corporations,” Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group said.

The combined capacities of the plants in Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu will be 5.4 million tonne.

India is the world’s second-largest producer of cement in the world, and almost all large players have been rapidly adding capacities as they look to capture the continued growth in demand expected over the next few years.

UltraTech plans to raise its production capacity to 200 million tonne, chairman Kumar Birla had said at the company’s annual general meeting last year, following it up with an announcement to invest Rs 13,000 crore for adding 21.9 million tonne to its existing capacity through a combination of greenfield and brownfield expansion.

Last week, the company also commissioned a one-million-tonne of brownfield capacity at its plant in Roorkee, Uttarakhand.

The flagship company for cement in the Aditya Birla Group, has added nearly 19 million tonne of capacity over the last 12 months, and will further add more than 35 million tonne of capacity across 16 locations. It will spend Rs 32,400 crore on capital expenditure over three years.

“With a mix of integrated cement plants, grinding units, bulk terminals across 59 locations in India along with 307 ready mix concrete plants, UltraTech’s scale and capacity footprint is unparalleled,” Kumar Birla said.

UltraTech had also acquired last year, and the completion of this deal is seen augmenting the cement-maker’s capacity to 198.2 million tonne.

The overall in the country is likely to add 150-160 million tonne of capacity in five years, CRISIL had said earlier this year. In the last five years, cement-makers have added close to 120 million tonne of capacity, taking the country’s total to around 600 million tonne.

UltraTech, itself, has added 50 million tonne of capacity in the last five years.

“India’s strong growth trajectory provides the cement sector significant headroom for long term growth,” KC Jhanwar, the managing director for UltraTech was quoted in a release. “As India’s leading cement and ready-mix-concrete company, UltraTech is well placed to support the country in its exciting growth journey ahead.”

The demand for cement in India is expected to grow at a sturdy pace supported by government-led spending on infrastructure and housing.