Companies looking at conserving their capital flows

According to a report by CARE, domestic cement production has fallen by 32.2 per cent during Q1 FY2021 (April-July) as compared to the 15 per cent and 2.6 per cent growth in production achieved during Q1 FY2019 (April-July) and Q1 FY2020 (April-July). The lockdown has resulted in reduced demand for cement from housing and construction activities. As reported, due to the lockdown, capacity utilisation of domestic manufacturers was around 42.6 per cent during Q1 of FY2021 (April-July). Notably, cement manufacturers have now cut down or deferred CAPEX expenditure owing to the fall in demand and also as companies look to conserve their capital or cash flows given the light of the events and the uncertainty of operations.