Cement Makers Positive on H2 Demand Outlook

03 Dec 2025 CW Team

The leading cement producers have posted high single-digit volume growth and better sales realisation in the July–September quarter, setting a positive tone for the second half of FY26. Companies are upbeat on demand prospects, supported by a strong housing sector and continued government spending on major infrastructure projects.

UltraTech, Ambuja Cement, Shree Cement, Dalmia Bharat and Nuvoco Vistas recorded revenue growth of up to 18 per cent in the September quarter. The rise was driven by firm realisations, softer input costs and an increased share of premium products.

With coal prices easing and diesel rates remaining stable year-on-year, companies expect margins to improve further in the coming months despite a rise in petcoke costs. In recent earnings calls, cement makers highlighted that the individual home builders segment across rural and urban markets is likely to drive demand, aided by favourable monsoon conditions, recent tax benefits and GST reforms.

Real Estate

05 Dec 2025

RBI Rate Cut Boosts Confidence Across Housing Market

Industry Context and Market DynamicsThe real estate industry has welcomed the RBI’s rate cut as a timely boost to affordability and demand. With home prices having risen steadily across major markets, even a marginal reduction in interest rates meaningfully strengthens purchasing power, especially for first-time and mid-income buyers.Ashish Jerath, President – Sales & Marketing, Smartworld Developers, observes:“The RBI’s 25-basis-point cut, bringing the repo rate down to 5.25%, is a timely boost for the real estate sector. Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs, enabling homeb..

BMC Resumes Rs 170 Billion Road Works, Targets 80 per cent By Jan 2026

Following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has restarted work on 645 roads—covering 297.49 kilometres—under its large-scale concretisation programme. Data shows that more than 60 per cent of the resumed works are located in the western suburbs. Officials said the civic body aims to complete concretisation on 80 per cent of the roads where fresh work has begun by January 2026. Launched in 2022, the Rs 170 billion project seeks to concretise 700 kilometres of roads across Mumbai. All civil works were halted during the monsoon ..

India Pushes Digital Shift In Urban Land Mapping

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development has convened a National Symposium on NAKSHA – the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations – to advance India’s transition to modern, technology-driven land mapping. Speaking at the inaugural session, Secretary Manoj Joshi underscored the urgent need to move revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based methods and rough hand-drawn sketches. He stressed that adopting latitude–longitude-based digital mapping and GIS-linked registration systems is essential for economic stabi..