Cement Major UltraTech Cement reported its consolidated profit increased by 6.56% YoY to Rs 1,6988.45 crore for Q1FY24 compared to Rs 1,584 crore during the year-ago period.

The consolidated revenue for the quarter grew by 16.73% to Rs 17,519 crore from its previous Year-ago quarter number of Rs 15,007 crore.

UltraTech Cement reported a 20% growth during the quarter, stating that it continues to generate strong growth in each subsequent quarter ahead.

The company said in an exchange filing, “On the operation front, it achieved capacity utilisation of 89% as against 83% during 01 FY23. Domestic sales volume registered 20% growth year-on-year. The energy cost was higher by 3% YoY, primarily due to currency devaluation. Additionally, there was a 6% rise in raw material cost, mainly driven by the higher costs of fly ash and slag,”.

The company added that its expansion program is going according to plan, following the successful commissioning of its 12.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of grey cement capacity in the previous fiscal year.

“These include: (i) 2.2 mtpa brownfield cement capacity at Patliputra in April, 2023; (ii) 0.8 mtpa brownfield cement capacity at Neem ka Thana, Rajasthan in May, 2023 and (iii) 1.3 mtpa brownfield cement capacity at Sonar Bangla, West Bengal in July 2023,” said the company.

The company is now capable of producing 131.25 mtpa of grey cement throughout India as a whole. It is planning to increase and expand to generate 22.6 mtpa of grey cement. The commercial output of these new facilities is expected to start by FY25 or FY26.

The company added, “Demand for cement across all sectors continues to remain strong which is highly favourable for its performance. Higher infrastructure spending ahead of the general elections in 2024 is expected to further propel cement demand during this fiscal,”.