Two Chinese companies - Yingde Dragon Mountain Cement Company and Longkou Fanlin Cement Company - have applied for licences to export cement to India, official sources said."Though the application of the two Chinese companies are not complete, they are serious to export cement to India," sources said.The government has made ISI mark mandatory for sale of cement in India, whether it is manufactured locally or outside the country.Foreign manufacturers need to get approval from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for selling cement in the Indian market. They receive the clearance within two months of their 'complete' application received by BIS if all conditions are met by them. BIS issues permission after inspecting their manufacturing facilities and testing the samples.Currently, there are six complete applications with BIS -- three each from Pakistan and Bangladesh -- for which the process is going on, the sources said, adding these applications do not include those from the Chinese firms as they are not complete."Inspection of plants has been completed in five cases while it is expected to be completed for the remaining company from Pakistan which sought more time," the sources said.The foreign firms would be issued licenses if their samples get okayed by Indian laboratories, they added.Meanwhile, two Bangladesh-based companies Aramik Cement of Dhaka and M I Cement Factory of Chittagong are the first foreign manufacturers to get the nod after the government liberalised the cement import policy in May this year.The Directorate General of Foreign Trade in May this year suspended restrictions on cement import till March 2008.Earlier, import was allowed only for captive consumption and on continuous basis."The government's decision to allow import of cement from other countries is mainly aimed at facilitating availability of cement at reasonable rates to the consumers without compromising on quality," the official said.Domestic manufacturers earlier this month had hiked prices by Rs 3-5 per bag."With these two approvals, the total number of approved foreign manufacturers in cement goes up to 13," a senior government official said.As many as 11 companies were earlier granted licences before the import norms were made easier in May this year.
