Cement Industry

Cement Industry

in

India

T

he cement industry is one

of the key industries in India. The production and consumption of cement to a large extent indicate a country’s progress. It is a capital-intensive industry, which means that competition is confined mainly to a small group of large industrial houses. The economic progress can be achieved by increasing the production coupled with improvement in the ways and means of productivity. This industry has recorded continuous growth since planning began. The government has a complete control over the production, distribution and price of cement and this has dampened the growth of the cement industry.

Cement industry plays a vital role in the economic development of the country. In innumerable ways it is being used in different parts of the world. Its level of consumption is taken as an extremely important indicator of the quality and the economic life of the people. This industry has been given a significant place in the scheme of priorities for facilitating investment process in the industrial development. This article explains the production, capacity utilization and per capita consumption of cement over the years.

Cement production and consumption in the world was estimated at around 1775 to 1800 million tones in 2003. In the last few years, cement consumption was reported to have been growing at about 2.5 percent. India’s cement industry has grown remarkably in the last two decades to second largest in the world, China being the first. It was the best among the cement producing countries in terms of technology, quality, efficiency and productivity parameters.

According to the Cement Manufacturer’s Association (CMA), this industry now has an installed capacity of producing 151.69 million tones from 128 plants that belong to 56 constituent companies.

It employs a large number of work forces which is over 1.5 lakh persons and supports engaged it has one of the customers from sectors such as Coal...