Amid India’s Infrastructure Buildout, Billionaires Duke It Out For Cement Crown

This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of India’s Richest 2024. See the full list here.

Until two years ago, billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla was India’s undisputed cement king. These days his UltraTech Cement is facing heat from an ultra-ambitious rival: Ambuja Cement, controlled by fellow billionaire Gautam Adani. In 2022, Adani became India’s second-biggest cement producer by capacity when he acquired Ambuja, together with its subsidiary ACC, for $6.4 billion.

Boldly declaring his ultimate goal, Adani said he wanted to be “the industry leader” by 2030. While he’s busy making moves to meet that target, Birla is on overdrive to expand his turf. In July, UltraTech snatched control of India Cements in south India for $700 million. A month later, Ambuja’s capacity increased to 89 million tons when it completed the $1.2 billion acquisition of Penna Cement Industries, also in the south. Adani is reportedly eyeing the Indian cement business of Germany’s Heidelberg Materials.

With nearly a quarter of the country’s total installed capacity, UltraTech plans to expand annual production to 200 million tons by 2027 from 150 million tons currently. As Birla explained to the company’s shareholders in August, “Our ambitious capacity expansion builds on the significant long-term growth opportunity for the cement sector in India.”

The country’s infrastructure buildout bodes well for the business. Akash Gupta, a director at Fitch Ratings, says in an email, “We expect overall capacity for the industry to grow largely in line with demand, and do not see a material risk of overcapacity in the next four to five years.”