CHENNAI: The cement industry will grow significantly in the current financial year after the new NDA government takes power again, said N Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements speaking to reporters on Saturday while releasing his company’s financials for the fourth quarter of 2017-18. He said that the company showed improved performance in that quarter.
“Going forward, we expect good demand for cement to continue. During the last quarter, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization per tonne increased to Rs 629 from Rs 470 per tonne in the third quarter. We expect it to be better in the first quarter of the current year.”
He said that the South also witnessed a substantial increase in cement production of 19 per cent more than the previous year riding on the infrastructure push given by the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana which together accounted for a major portion of the increase in production.
He further added the two States’ push on infrastructural projects, increase in cement price and sales volume, Maharashtra’s increase in roadways and relative ease of obtaining sand in Tamil Nadu has aided in this growth.
Speaking about the company’s financials, he said that the net profit during the quarter ended March 31, 2019 improved to Rs 43.85 crore compared to Rs 35.27 crore in the same quarter in the previous year.
Total revenue also increased to Rs 1581.38 crore from Rs 1401.73 crore. Net profit during the year 2018-19 came to Rs 69.44 crore compared to Rs 100.62 crore in 2017-18.
A statement released by the company on Saturday showed that the Net Plant Realisation (NPR) during the quarter had gone up on account of improvement in selling price by 6 per cent over that of the previous year.
“There are expectations of revival of new investments and pick up in credit growth, private consumption expenditure and construction activity,” said Srinivasan.