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Parth Jindal, Managing Director of JSW Cement
JSW Cement is aiming to get a 10 per cent share of the domestic cement market in the medium to long term pan-India, but growth to get there will largely be organic as the company does not have the ‘aukaat’ (status or wherewithal) to compete with the financial muscle of larger peers in the sector, Managing Director Parth Jindal said.
The organic route to growth was a more prudent strategy as it could do it at a cost 40 per cent lower compared to industry standards, he explained. While it was build, rather than buy strategy it was pursuing, it would still be evaluating acquisitions when they come up, he added.
Part of the $23 billion JSW group, the cement manufacturer is expanding grinding capacity to 42 million tons from 21 mtpa now and clinker capacity to 13 mtpa from 6.4 mtpa now. On the way to its long-term goal it is looking to get to 60 mtpa grinding capacity that would give it a fighting share of 7-8 per cent. Much of the expansion is coming up in south, central and north India.
The cement sector is going through a period of consolidation with major players such as UltraTech, Adani Cement making strategic and sizable acquisitions to maintain their dominant market position.
Jindal said that after it lost its bid, to acquire Holcim’s India assets, to the Adani group, “we have studied all the assets that have been available.” The cement sector was dominated by large well entrenched players with strong balance sheets and low debt. “If they want to acquire anything they can out-muscle JSW Cement easily. Right now we don’t have the aukaat, I would say, to challenge them in any acquisition.”
The prices for the acquisitions and the benchmarks were being set by the industry leaders and that “makes our organic story much more appealing, value-accretive story than any acquisition,” said Jindal.
More capacity
The company is looking at putting in more capacity in the north, central and north-east parts of India rather than the south and east where it was already crowded, with limited scope for pricing power.
JSW Cement’s ₹3600 crore IPO is opening this Thursday at a price band of ₹139-147 per share. Of the ₹1600 crore fresh issue, ₹800 is being used to part finance the cost of its new cement unit at Nagaur and Rs 520 crore to repay debt.
It currently has 7 cement plants and, according to it the largest producer of ground granulated blast furnace slag.
JSW Cement has a binding contract with Bhushan Power and Steel on an arm’s length basis for fly ash and slag and Jindal said that the current review petition filed by JSW Steel in the Supreme Court, which had ruled against the acquisition, should not affect the cement company.
Published on August 4, 2025
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