India's Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) has argued that cement should be brought under the lowest Goods and Services Tax (GST) slab. It currently attracts 28 per cent, the highest slab on a par with luxury goods in India.

Speaking at the 14th Green Cementech 2018, the CMA claims that by lowering the GST, it will lower costs and aid cement demand.

Philip Mathew, co-chairman of Green Cementech 2018 and chief manufacturing officer of ACC Ltd, said various cement manufacturers have now embarked on upgrading their technologies to make green cement. There are about 375 green products that can be made with cement, he said. Most of the cement plants have captive power plants but are not being utilised fully as the plants are operating below capacity. Therefore, the government should allow the cement plans to connect these captive plants to the grid and help cut down expenses to that extent, Mr Mathew added.

KN Rao, co-chairman of Green Cementech 2018, said cement capacity utilisation currently stands at about 60 per cent with scope for further increases. However, the rising input costs are forcing the companies to go slow. The cement industry is now facing shortage of fly ash across the states, he said.

Meanwhile, at the Green Cementech event the CMA and the Confederation of Indian Industry laiunched a
report on ‘Indian Cement Industry: History, Growth Drivers and Key Learnings’. The report highlights the cement sector's upward growth trajectory and the initiatives taken for water, energy and material conservation. It said there is a need for developing a roadmap for reducing carbon emissions further, increase adoption of alternative fuels and raw materials, develop methods for recycling concrete and stepping up research and development of green products.