Zuari Cement’s Managing Director Nabil Francis feels that the demand for cement will go up after a new government takes power in New Delhi.
He told Business Line that once the long election process is over and a new government is in place, the construction sector and the infrastructure development sector would feel confident to get on with work. He believes the policy paralysis with regard to infrastructure development in the last two years has caused sluggishness in the sector. This affected the demand for cement and hit manufacturing as well.
In spite of this, Francis noted that there was a 3.5 per cent increase in demand in the last financial year.
“The main demand for cement will be driven by the demand for new residential units from the new generation,” he said. In the past, people used to think about building a house or buying a new flat after they retired, but now the young generation is going for their own houses and flats as soon as they secure a job. The second biggest demand for will be from the infrastructure development sector and the third from the non-residential building sector. All of this, he believes, will help demand increase substantially in the current fiscal.
New terminal Zuari Cement, which commands a five per cent market share in South India, is setting up a one-million-tonne port-based cement-packing terminal at the Kochi port.
Francis said the terminal will increase the company’s access to the western and southern markets of the country using marine shipping and inland navigation. He said the first phase of the terminal, for which a ground-breaking ceremony was held on Tuesday, would be operational late next year. The terminal, with an estimated cost of ₹120 crore, would have a total of four silos.
Francis said the company is now focusing on offering a ‘total cement solution’ with different types of cement to different applications. He pointed out that currently most consumers used the same type of cement for all purposes when in reality, applications such as plastering and laying foundations require different types of cement.