Adani, Aditya Birla locked in a race to expand cement biz

Competition is intensifying in India's cement industry, with the Adani Group's cement venture dialling up its capacity expansion target by just over 10%, a fortnight after larger rival, Aditya Birla Group flagship UltraTech Cement Ltd raised its target by a similar quantum.

- Dipali Banka

Billionaire Gautam Adani, who entered the cement industry three years ago with the acquisition of Holcim AG's India business and became India's second-largest cement manufacturer overnight, has gone on to buy smaller cement firms such as Sanghi Industries, Penna Cement and Orient Cement.

The group, which can produce 107 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), on Monday said it will add another 15 mtpa by FY28 to reach 155 mtpa, doubling the size since acquiring Ambuja Cement and ACC Ltd from Holcim in 2022. This new capacity will come from so-called debottlenecking, or optimizing operations to hike output without any major new construction and at a lower cost.