Ambuja Cements Ltd, a part of the global conglomerate LafargeHolcim, is among the leading cement companies in India. The company sells cement under the Ambuja brand.
Ambuja Cements Ltd (ACL) was i
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ncorporated on 20th October 1981 as Ambuja Cements Pvt. Ltd. The company was established as a joint venture between the public sector Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation (GIIC) and Narottam Sekhsaria & Associates. In May 19, 1983, the company was rehabilitated into a public limited company. Subsequently, the company name was changed to Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. Further, the name was changed to Ambuja Cements Ltd.
Ambuja Cements is a major cement producing company in India. The principal activity of the company is to manufacture and market cement and clinker for both domestic and export markets. The company has 6 integrated cement manufacturing plants and 8 strategically cement grinding units and a a network of more than 50,000 channel partners. Its current manufacturing installed capacity is 31.45 MTPA. It is the first Indian cement manufacturer having a captive port with three terminals along the country's western coastline to facilitate timely, cost effective and environmentally cleaner shipments of bulk cement to its customer. The company has its own fleet of ships. The company subsidiaries include Dang Cement Industries Private Ltd, M.G.T Cements Private Ltd, Chemical Limes Mundwa Private Ltd and Dirk India Pvt. Ltd.
In the year 1985, the company set up a cement plant in technical collaboration with Krupp Polysius, Germany, Bakau Wolf and Fuller KCP. During the year 1988-89, the company commissioned the 12.6 MW diesel-generating sets. In the year 1991, the company got necessary approvals for setting up another cement plant with 1 million tonne capacity per annum at Himachal Pradesh. The company undertook bulk cement transportation, by sea, to the major markets of Mumbai, Surat and other deficit zones on the West Coast.
In the year 1997, the company started commercial production in Kodinar plant with an enhanced capacity. In the year 1998, they set up a $20 million clinker Grinding unit in Sri Lanka. In the year 2000, giants Larsen & Tubro (L&T) and Gujarat Ambuja Cements entered a unique agreement to reduce transportation costs in dispatching bulk cement in Gujarat. Also, they entered into an annual contract with a Soinhalese firm, Mahaveli Marine Cement, to supply around 2.5 lakh tonnes of cement.
In the year 2002, the company started commercial production at Maratha Cement Works plant. In June 2002, they started commercial production in the new 2-million tonne Greenfield cement plant at Chandrapur, Maharashtra. In the year 2004, Ambuja Cement Rajasthan was amalgamated with the company.
In February 2005, the company set up a cement mill with a capacity of 80 TPH at Darlaghat and commenced commercial production. They commissioned a captive thermal power plant with two 12 MW Steam Turbo Generators (STG), with two boilers of 45 TPH capacity each at a cost of Rs.94 crore. The first STG was commissioned in February 2005 and the second in May 2005.
In July 2005, Indo-Nippon Special Cements Ltd, a subsidiary company was amalgamated with the company. The company set up new clinker capacity at Bhatapara in Chattisgarh and Rauri in Himachal Pradesh, each having a capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per annum at a cost of Rs. 1600 crore. In 2006, Global Cement Major Holcim acquired management control of the company.
The company commenced commercial production at two new 2.2 million tonne clinker production lines, at Bhatapara (Chattisgarh) and Rauri (HP) in December 2009 and January 2010 respectively. In February 24, 2010, the company inaugurated their cement plant (grinding unit) at Dadri, Uttar Pradesh with the capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. In March 27, 2010, they inaugurated their cement plant (grinding unit) at Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh with the capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.
During the year, the company commissioned an additional 30 MW captive power unit at Ambujanagar (Gujarat). In October 2010, the company signed an agreement with the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation, to set up a 2.2 million tonne clinkerisation unit in Nagaur district. In December 2010, the Dadri Grinding Unit in its very first year of operation received the Integrated Management System (IMS) Certification, including ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, and OHSAS 18001:2007 by BSI (U.K.).
In the year 2011, the company started commercial production in a new cement mill at a cost of approx Rs. 185 crore at Bhatapara plant. Also, they commissioned a new cement mill of 0.9 million tonne cement grinding capacity at Maratha Cement Works plant at a cost of approx Rs 61 crore.
The company commissioned a 7.5 MW Wind Mill project in Kutch, Gujarat at a cost of Rs 46 crore. The company increased the installed capacity in Bhatinda grinding unit in Punjab by 0.1 million tonne to reach at 0.6 million tonne. Also, they increased the installed capacity in Farraka grinding unit in West Bengal by 0.25 million tonne to reach at 1.25 million tonnes.
In June 2011, the company made strategic investments in Dang Cement Industries Pvt. Ltd, Nepal and acquired 85% shareholding for Rs 19.13 crore to help further expansion of capacity in the northern region of India and Nepal. In September 2011, they acquired 60% shareholding in Dirk India Pvt Ltd, Maharashtra Rs. 16.51 crore. The company entered into a joint venture for speciality cement manufacturing facility in Goa with Counto Microfine Products Pvt Ltd.
On 24 July 2013, the Board of Directors of Ambuja Cements approved a proposal to acquire 50.01% stake in ACC. It was decided that Ambuja would first acquire from Holderind Investments Ltd., Mauritius (Holcim), a 24% stake in Holcim India for a cash consideration of Rs. 3500 crore, followed by a merger of Holcim India into Ambuja.
On 10th July, 2015 Holcim Ltd. Switzerland and Lafarge SA, France announced the completion of their global merger to create LafargeHolcim Ltd. (LH), a world leader in cement and building material industry. LH is present in 90 countries with around 1,15,000 employees. LH is the ultimate holding Company and Ambuja continues to receive all-round support from them in various facets of the Company's business and support functions.
On 24 May 2016, Ambuja Cement announced the completion of its Rs 338-crore expansion project at its Sankrail grinding unit near Kolkata, thereby raising the capacity of the unit to 2.4 million tonne per annum from 1.5 million tonne per annum.
On 15 November 2016, Ambuja Cement's overseas parent company LafargeHolcim announced that its subsidiary Holderind Investments Ltd. has increased its shareholding in Ambuja Cement Ltd. to 63.11% post the acquisition of additional 3.91 crore shares.
During the year, one non-functional subsidiary viz. Kakinada Cements Ltd. was dissolved and the name of the company has been struck off from the Registrar of Companies, Gujarat under the easy exit scheme. As reported elsewhere, with the effectiveness of the Scheme of Amalgamation with Holcim India Pvt. Ltd., ACC Limited (along with its subsidiaries), has become the subsidiary of the company with effect from. 12th August 2016.
On 29 April 2017, Ambuja Cement announced the launch of a superior composite cement product for better sustainability under the brand Ambuja Compocem.
Ambuja Cement's Board of Directors at its meeting held on 5 May 2017 approved constitution of a special committee of directors with majority of independent directors to explore the possibility of a merger of Ambuja Cement and ACC.
During the year 2018, the company allotted 58,44,17,928 equity shares of the face value of Rs.2 each under the Scheme of Amalgamation with Holcim India Pvt. Ltd. (HIPL) to the shareholders of HIPL. At the same time, 150,670,120 equity shares, which were held by HIPL, were cancelled as cross holding in terms of the said Scheme. As a result of the allotment of new equity shares and cancellation of cross holding, the equity share capital has increased from Rs.3,103,794,842 divided into 1,551,897,421 equity shares of Rs.2 each to Rs.3,971,290,458 divided into 1,985,645,229 equity shares of Rs.2 each.
In FY 2018, Company acquired a coal block at Gare- Palma sector IV/8 in Chattisgarh at an e-auction of coal blocks conducted by the Govt. of India. Open cast mining and commercial production commenced in April & October 2018, respectively. The mines development-cum-operation (MDO) contract has been finalized and site development activities are at an advanced stage.To ensure adequate availability of dry fly ash for the north cluster, the Company has established a ' fly ash dryer' at Ropar at an investment of Rs. 20 crores and it is under stabilization.
In FY'19, Company launched 14 new products & services. These products include 8 types of Ready Mix Concrete (RMX) and plaster application based products (RoofCrete, SuperCrete, FibreCrete, ColumnCrete, FoundationCrete, FibrePlast, Plazto, BagCrete), 5 decor, leakage-proofing and tile adhesive application based solution products (Ambuja Tilocol VT, Ambuja Tilocol MT, Ambuja Tilocol ST, Ambuja SeelanSeal, Ambuja ColorSave Wall Putty) and 1 PPC cement product (Ambuja Kawach) with high strength and water shielding properties.
During 2021, Company commissioned its integrated greenfield facility at Marwar, in Rajasthan, enhancing the annual clinker capacity by 3 MTPA and the cement capacity by 1.8 MTPA. It has finalised on brownfield expansion of 1.5 MTPA cement at the existing plant in Ropar, Punjab. It further has embarked on next phase of capacity expansion with a 3.2 MTPA brownfield clinker capacity in Bhatapara and cement grinding units with a total capacity of 7 MTPA in Farakka and Sankrail (existing units), and Barh (new greenfield location). The estimated capex for these projects is Rs. 3,500 crore. To secure limestone needs of the Maratha Cement Works plant in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, it acquired a new mining lease at the Nandgaon Ekodi mine.
In FY'21, to meet the limestone requirement, the Company invested Rs. 77 crores to purchase 50 hectares of land in Darlaghat, Ambujanagar & Bhatapara. To ensure adequate availability of dry fly ash, it is presently setting up fly ash dryers/hot air generators at Ropar and Bathinda (Punjab), Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh), Dadri (Uttar Pradesh), Roorkee (Uttarakhand) and Rabriyawas (Rajasthan) with an estimated investment of Rs. 140 crore. To secure the long-term limestone requirement for the Ambujanagar plant in Gujarat, it acquired a new mining lease at Lodhva. To strengthen logistical capability and enhance customer outreach, a new railway siding project at Rabriyawas has been commissioned at a total investment of ~ Rs. 210 crore. Clinker and cement despatch by rail have commenced their operations from October 2021.
During FY'21, Company installed robotic lab for real time quality monitoring and control of cement manufacturing at Marwar and Cross Belt Analyser for real time quality check of input limestone from mines. It implemented Technical Information System (TIS) for production and lab data information. It made use of molecule-based grinding aid to improve the strength of cement and optimised SO3 across location to improve strength. It made qualitative and quantitative identification of clinker phases for strength optimisation using X-ray Defraction Meter (XRD). In 2021, it added six new plants for Ambuja Cool Walls manufacturing, reaching a total of 18 plants pan-India and started supplying product from four more plants located at Bhatapara, Dadri, Ropar and Darlaghat.
As of 31st December 2021, the company has 6 direct subsidiaries, 1 joint venture and 1 joint operation.
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