Aditya Birla Group to double cement capacity to 200 million tonnes in 10 years

The Aditya Birla Group is planning to expand its cement production capacity from 150 million tonnes at present to 200 million tonnes over the next 10 years.

Announcing this while addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Sunday, Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said scale is necessary for any manufacturing business to survive in the long term.

It took the group 36 years to build a 100 million tonne cement capacity while it added another 50 million tonne capacity in five years. Birla said in the next ten years, the group’s cement capacity will go up to 200 million tonnes. 

Aditya Birla Group flagship cement unit UltraTech Cement has a consolidated production capacity of 156.06 million tonnes of gret cement.

He said the group has invested about $20 billion over the years in expanding production capacity, including the $6 billion acquisition of Novelis by Hindalco.

Unless a company or product is very unique, technologically advancedit cannot survive without scale in the competitive world, he pointed out.

Scale has its role in marketing, supply and distribution of any product, especially in a vast country like India, he pointed out.

Birla said the group’s entry into the paints business was also on a scale aimed at establishing a national presence. The group launched its paints business, Birla Opus, in February this year.

Birla said his group always looked at the top or second spot in the business segments which it operated.