Lafarge S.A, the world’s second largest cement manufacturer, has announced plans to invest US$1bn in India over the next five years to ramp up its cement production capacity in the country to 20Mta. The company plans to set up three manufacturing facilities, each with a capacity of 2.5Mta, and will also expand its three existing plants to achieve a total capacity of 12Mta.

Lafarge forayed into the Indian market in 1999 with the acquisition of the cement business of Tata Steel Limited (Mumbai). In 2001, it acquired cement units from Raymond India (Mumbai). In May this year, Lafarge acquired L&T Concrete, the concrete unit of Larsen & Toubro Limited (Mumbai) for US$350m.