AV Birla group eyes waste as fuel

The Aditya Birla group is working to develop alternative fuels such as burning municipal waste and the botanical waste products.

The company is working with the municipal authorities at different states in order to burn the domestic waste.

"We could use the municipal wastes and the some dry biological leaves to produce an alternative source of fuel as the cost of coal has increased considerably," Ajay Sinha,vice president, cement marketing, East of Aditya Birla Group.

The input prices have also gone up by 20-30 percent in the last few years, where as in the same period, price of cement has increased by only by 10 percent.

Sinha particularly pointed out the cost of coal constitutes more than 40 percent of the input cost and it had become costlier.

"Coal is very important input for the cement industry and its cost has increased by 16 percent, and considering the increase in the cost of other inputs, there is bound to be an upward pressure in the prices," he added, while talking with the media in the sidelines of Intaglio, the annual international business school meet, organised by the IIM Calcutta.

In the next two years the cement industry might experience an upward trend as far as the price is concerned, as the market balance is tilted favoring the demand side. The current trend suggest that the demand for the cement is growing at 8-10 percent and according to the industry insiders it would remain in that way for the next 2-3 years.

"At the moment the demand is more on the higher side compared to the supply and it is expected to remain that way in the next couple of years," said Sinha. The company was planning to increase its capacity to 45 million ton in a year from the present level of 33 million ton.