SECTOR: Cement Sagar Cements Sagar Cements Ltd is one of India’s leading cement manufacturers with an installed production capacity of 5.75 mtpa. For over three decades, it has been committed to creating lasting stakeholder value while maintaining a sustainable growth outlook with its robust foundation and a steady growth focus. Anand Reddy, Managing Director, Sagar Cements Ltd, shares more…. Strategies to overcome COVID-19 and other challenges in FY2020-21: Demand was natural during FY2021 followed by a favourable pricing environment across southern markets, fuelled by the government’s focus on both state and central infrastructure projects, supported by the highest ever blended ratio yielding positive contributions. Major contributor to growth in FY2020-21: The strategic manufacturing locations of Sagar Cements have given us an edge over other peer brands and execution of supplies within a radius of average lead distance of 300 km helped us optimise our realisations. In contemporary markets, despite the pandemic crisis, the operating efficiencies of all our plants coupled with power assets and the usage of alternate fuels have made our production cost and pricing more competitive, thus giving us an edge to penetrate our markets more effectively. Decision avoided/made that helped maintain top-line and bottom-line: Price management and focussed efforts from all our verticals contributed in maintaining both the top-line and bottom-line intact. Plans for growth in FY2021-22 and beyond: Going forward, we are spreading our wings much wider with an able and ambitious team. Our greenfield projects in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are set to commence production shortly to leverage emerging demand in the central and eastern zones. Our robust fundamentals and decade-old industry expertise have allowed us to build a strong business with a sharp competitive edge, and we are set to reach 8.25 million tonne per annum (mtpa) from the existing 5.75 mtpa after commissioning of the projects mentioned above. We have inculcated best-in-class management practices and adopted strategies that have strengthened our presence and supply chain network and enhanced cost and resource optimisation. All these will lead to a much stronger balance sheet, trustworthy brand name and capability to expand our reach further, thus consolidating our regional presence across seven major states: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.