One-third of India’s cement making capacity is unutilised, and has been left idle, underlining the recent trend of slowing activity in the housing sector and infrastructure development. The capacity utilisation of cement industry in India is low, and 170 MT out of 510 MT is completely idle, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) annual report released this week. Housing and real estate sector is the largest consumer of cement in India, followed by infrastructure and industrial development sectors.

Implementation of RERA disturbed the stability in construction activity, which led the real estate developers to keep away from launching new projects in the first half of the previous fiscal years, according to a report on cement industry by Care Ratings released last year. This led to a slowdown in the demand of cement, the Care report said. However, an inefficient transportation system is one other reason for the under-utilisation of cement plants.

....