India's Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) has held a constructive interaction with Singareni Collieries Co Ltd (SCCL). The meeting organised by the CMA with the senior officials of SCCL in Hyderabad saw a commitment on both sides to work towards improving offtake of coal by the cement industry.

CMA felt extremely reassured by the positive response received from Dr J Allwyn, executive director (Coal Movement), SCCL and N V Rajasekhar Rao, deputy general manager (Marketing), SCCL. The senior officials from SCCL responded to a range of queries from the cement industry, largely concerning issues of quality, timely supplies, and third-party inspection methodology.

Sathia Raj, chairman of the CMA Committee on Energy and Fuel and joint president, Head Central Procurement Cell, UltraTech Cement Ltd, said, "SCCL has been customer centric and attentive to the feedback received from the cement industry."

SCCL agreed to hold quarterly interaction with the CMA that would allow both sides to review the supply side situations and boost offtake by the cement industry. In her concluding remarks, the CMA's Secretary General, Aparna Dutt Sharma, stated, "CMA is reassured by the productive and candid interaction with SCCL. There is intent on both sides to overcome pain points to ensure better offtake of quality coal by the cement industry."