The India Cements Ltd said it may need to put its capital expenditure plans on the backburner if the current economic slowdown persists, reports The Times of India.

"We may hold back capital expenditure," said N Srinivasan, The India Cements Ltd’s vice chairman and MD. "I want to expand. I want to go there (Madhya Pradesh). But, I want to be sure before I go there," he added.

The southern Indian-based cement producer’s plans include a greenfield cement plant in Madhya Pradesh and a grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh involving an investment of nearly INR14bn.

The ongoing economic slowdown has led to the new Andhra Pradesh state government halting purchases. As a result, company revenues have fallen 10 per cent YoY and 15 per cent QoQ to INR12.49bn for the quarter ended September 2019. Profits for the quarter rose to INR87.2m YoY but fell 88 per cent QoQ. The company’s net plant realisation was down to INR3501/t from INR3654/t.

Overall cement and clinker volumes dropped 13 per cent YoY to 266,700t. The India Cements Ltd operated its plants every two out of three days as capacity utilisation declined to 68 per cent from 77 per cent a year ago.