Cement Manufacturing Company (CMCL), which produces cement under the brand name of Star, will cater to the market in eastern India which witnessed a spurt in cement demand.
CMCL aims to supply at least 1 million tone per annum (mn tpa) of cement to Bihar and North Bengal. The firm feels that growth of demand in eastern India is currently almost double than national growth. For the country the demand is growing at 7 per cent. The size of cement market in both Bihar and North Bengal will be close to 20 mn tpa.
Industry sources informed that cement demand in Bihar was growing at 13 percent which is close to demand of Northeast India. Similarly cement demand in North Bengal is around 10 to 12 percent.
Northeast has around a dozen cement companies operating is looking for new market outside the region. Cement companies operating in Northeast India enjoy concessions and tax reliefs under North East Industrial Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP). To make their operation viable cement industries are armed with transport subsidy.
Recently, the firm sent one full rake (2,650 tonne) from its green-field cement plant in Sonapur in Guwahati to Bihar and North Bengal.
At Jaintia Hills Meghalaya and Guwahati, Star Cement recently commissioned new state of art cement plants. With these capacity additions, its production capacity has gone up to 4 mn tpa. Star Cement had also started exporting clinker to Bangladesh.
