Driven by the increased consumption in the southern markets of India, total cement despatches during the first four months of current fiscal shown a tremendous growth in India to 50.54Mt as against 45.81Mt during the same period last fiscal. The average monthly despatch during the four-month stood higher at 12.63Mt as compared to 11.45Mt during the same period last fiscal.

Thanks to a strong demand from Andhra Pradesh, companies such as India Cements and Madras Cements have reported sharp growth in their monthly despatches during April-July period. India Cements’ despatch has grown from 713,000t in April 2006 to 756,000t in July 2006. Similarly, Madras Cements too witnessed a sizeable growth in monthly despatches from 445,000t in April 2006 to 500,000t in July 2006.