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Cut in cement excise likely; go global, become no 1, Bakht urges industry

Industry Minister Sikander Bakht today announced that steps were being taken to reduce the excise burden on the cement industry.

He urged the cement industry to develop a global vision and set up overseas bases.

''Time is also ripe for the Indian cement industry to become the largest producer in the world from the present the position of the fourth largest at present,'' he said while inaugurating the sixth international seminar on cement and building materials, organised by the National Council for Cement and Building Materials in New Delhi.

This demand has been made by the NCB and the cement industry.

Bakht said the Indian cement industry was expected to grow around nine to ten per cent in the Ninth Plan period. The expected spurt in industrial growth and increase in demand from infrastructure sectors including mass housing scheme would help the Indian cement industry to play a major role in global cement production and reach a dominant position.

The minister said the cement industry has been facing many problems mainly due to slackening of cement demand. But the government has taken a number of steps to create areas of cement consumption and the steps included higher allocations for the infrastructure projects, setting up of an Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, tax incentives for infrastructure areas and initiatives for development of highways and ports, he said.

The minister told the industry to seek fresh markets overseas, diversify into new areas of cost-effective use of cement and tap the rural market.

He recalled that the allocation for infrastructure projects has been raised by 35 per cent from the equivalent of $ 10.5 billion to $ 14.5 billion in the current year's plan.

Project sanctions by all India financial institutions indicated growth in the share of infrastructure projects by 217 per cent in 1997-98 and this would go up this year, he said.

The minister said the series of steps taken by the government would have a multiplier effect in generating demand in various sectors of the economy, particularly, for cement and building materials.

UNI

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