Indian Cement History
Time：2021-07-08
India entered into the Cement Era in 1914, when the Indian Cement Company Ltd. started manufacturing Cement in Porbandar in Gujarat.
However, even before that, a small cement factory was established in Madras in 1904 by a company named South India Industrial Ltd.
Indian Cement Company Ltd produced only one type of cement which was designed by the British standard committee as “Artificial Portland Cement”. This company marketed its product in Mumbai, Karachi, Madras, and other parts and became a financial success.
At that time India had to import cement from England. The price of imported cement was higher. Some other factors such as an increase in domestic demand, reduction in supply from abroad (due to war), availability of Indian Capital, ample raw material, Cheap labor, support of the government, etc. made it a leading industry in India in a short period of time.
In January 1915, a cement unit was started at Katni in Madhya Pradesh
In December 1916, another unit at Lakheri in Rajasthan was started.
During the First World War period, cement production in these three important factories was taken under control of the government and later the control was lifted once the war was over. After the war, 6 more units were launched in India.
In 1924, India’s cement production was 267000 tons. However, initially, this increased production could not reduce the imports and the industry suffered a rate of war. This led to the closure of many indigenous units. The Indian companies which were away from ports or commercial centers faced the locational disadvantage.
The above incidents led to the industry stakeholder approach to the government for some kind of protection. The British government constituted a Tariff board, which recommended the protection of the indigenous industry against the dumping of the imported cement. It recommended raising the customs duty to 41%, which was around 15% at that time, but this recommendation was not accepted by the government.
Discovery of Cement and the first patent in the World
John Smeaton, who is also known as “father of civil engineering” and credited for designing many bridges, canals, harbors, etc. was the first proclaimed civil engineer and pioneered the use of ‘hydraulic lime’, which led to the discovery of modern cement.
The common cement or Portland cement was prepared and Patented by Joseph Aspdin in 1824.
In the later part of the 19th century, cement production was taken up by many countries, many decades after the first patent was taken by Aspdin in England.
Landmarks in History of India’s Cement Industry
In 1925, the first association of the cement manufacturers was formed as the “Cement Manufacturers Association“.
It was followed by the “Concrete Association of India” in 1927.
In 1930 “Cement Marketing Company of India” was started and this was followed by a quota system on the basis of installed capacity of the factories.
In 1936, all the cement companies except one i.e. Sone valley Portland Cement Company agreed and formed Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC). This was the most important event in the history of the cement industry in India. Many more companies were established in the following years.
Before partition, India had 24 factories, out of which India retained 19 factories, which annual production of 2.1 million tons. Pakistan faced a problem on the supply side as it had a problem of disposal of the cement produced and India faced a problem in demand-side as production fell to 2.1 million tons from 2.7 million tons.
After Independence, the partition of the country had a bad impact on the cement industry.
Cement Expansion Scheme
In 1948, the government adopted the Cement Expansion Scheme, which envisaged new factories to increase production. New factories were established at Bagalkot, Jaipur, Orissa, Travancore, etc. In 1950-51, there were 22 operating units with an installed capacity of 3.3 million tons. Cement industry was given great importance in all the initial five-year plans. The target of the first five-year plan was to raise the installed capacity to 5.4 million tons which were achieved. The industry has grown manifold since then.
How many cement plants are producing in INDIA 2020
Buffalo grinding mortar at Bombay in Maharashtra in 1870-produced a mixture of sand, lime and water needed to make the mortar used in building construction
The First Cement Factory of INDIA
In 1904/ Madras area (now Chennai)
The first endeavor to manufacture cement dates back to 1889 when a Calcutta based company endeavored to manufacture cement from Argillaceous (kankar).
But the first endeavor to manufacture cement in an organized way commenced in Madras. South India Industries Limited began manufacture of Portland cement in 1904. But the effort did not succeed and the company had to halt production.
First Licensed Cement Manufacturing in India.
Finally, it was in 1914 that the first licensed cement manufacturing unit was set up by India Cement Company Ltd at Porbandar, Gujarat with an available capacity of 10,000 tons and production of 1000 installed. The First World War gave the impetus to the cement industry still in its initial stages. The following decade saw tremendous progress in terms of manufacturing units, installed capacity and production. This phase is also referred to as the Nascent Stage of Indian Cement Industry.
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