The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has granted the country’s first licence for the manufacture of microfine ordinary Portland cement and ultrafine ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) to Counto Microfine Products. The company is a joint venture between Ambuja Cements and Alcon group and has one of the largest manufacturing facilities for microfine materials in Goa.

The Goan firm will now be able to produce and sell the products with an assurance on the quality and reliability of the product, said Pawan Kumar Kandoi, head of the BIS.