Billionaires bet on Indian cement sector for big ticket investments

Premji Invest, Damani pick up minority stakes in smaller cement companies

The Indian cement industry is not only attracting billions of dollars of investment from the new entrants like the Adani group, but several financial investors such as Premji Invest and Radhakishan Damani, promoter of D-Mart chain of retail stores, are also picking up minority stakes in regional cement companies.

Premji Invest, an investment vehicle of infotech major Wipro’s promoter Azim Premji, acquired a 10 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based Sagar Cement for Rs 350 crore in March. In December last year, Damani increased his stake to 23 per cent in India Cements.

Aditya Birla and JSW groups, which lost the race to