DECEMBER 20249CEMENT INDUSTRY FAILS TO MEET EXPECTATIONS OWING TO UNPREDICTABLE MONSOONSRUSSIA LOOKS TO INDIA FOR TRAIN MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENTSThe Indian cement industry is facing a slower growth rate than initially projected. While earlier estimates predicted a 7-8 percent YoY increase in cement volumes for FY2025, the revised forecast suggests a more modest 4-5 percent growth.Post-Election Recovery: The construction sector, particularly housing and infrastructure, has been slower to recover than anticipated after the general Elections. First Half Challenges: The first half of FY2025 was marked by election-related disruptions and heavy monsoon rains, further hindering growth.Despite the challenges, the industry remains optimistic about a stronger second half of FY2025. Factors contributing to this optimism include: Rural Housing Demand: Improved farm income, robust monsoon, and high reservoir levels are expected to boost rural housing demand. Urban Housing Demand: Sustained demand for urban housing is likely to continue.Infrastructure Spending: The government's focus on infrastructure projects, particularly in H2 FY2025, can significantly boost cement demand.Cement companies are expected to witness improved operating performance from Q3 FY2025 onwards. This is attributed to potential price hikes, increased government spending on infrastructure, a pick-up in construction activities, and stable input costs.Overall, while the cement industry's growth trajectory has moderated, the positive outlook for the second half of the fiscal year, driven by factors like rural and urban housing demand and government infrastructure spending, offers hope for a stronger performance. huge domestic requirements and for that they want to set up manufacturing facilities here. They want to get these supplies from India."The CEO of TMH, Kirill Lipa told a group of Indian journalists at the company's headquarters in Moscow, "The current interest rate in India is very different from other countries. So, we are interested and ready to invest in India. We are interested in developing several facilities in India, which are capable of providing certain components and we think some of them can be supplied to the Russian market as well."Mentioning that Russia currently has several supply contracts from India, Lipa said, "We have a historically good relationship with suppliers there (India) and that means we can increase this import into Russia from India."TMH is the major stakeholder in Kinet Railway Solutions, which has signed approximately Rs 55,000 crore contract with Indian Railways to produce 1,920 Vande Bharat sleeper coaches and maintain them for 35 years. Lipa said they are "not looking at getting any supply from Russia" for Vande Bharat project."We found basic suppliers within India or some other countries which are more or less oriented for the relationship between India and Russia," he said while claiming that the current sanctions will not have any implications on the project. Russia is eager to invest in and expand the manufacturing of trains and their components in India to meet its domestic requirements, a senior railway ministry official said on Tuesday. Last week, Russian railway major TMH had expressed interest in this plan.In response to a question on Russian investment in the railway sector in India, a top govt official said, "They have
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