Ramco Cements launches eco-friendly plasters as rivals scale up green offerings

Indian cement makers are steadily reshaping their portfolios to look beyond the bag of cement. With regulators pressing for lower emissions and severe water shortages affecting most major Indian cities, the sector is undergoing a rebranding of sorts.

UltraTech markets low-water plasters, ACC and Ambuja sell a "low-carbon" concrete range, and Dalmia talks of becoming carbon-negative by 2040. That pressure is reinforced by disclosure rules from SEBI, as listed firms in India now have to comply with ESG norms. For cement, among the most carbon-intensive industries, the filings mean a sharper focus on demonstrating credible reductions in water use and clinker intensity.

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Ramco's new launch

Joining the chorus on Tuesday (August 19), Ramco Cements launched 'Hard Worker', its new construction chemicals and plaster brand. The company is pitching it as a line of products that consume less water than conventional mixes, while extending Ramco’s presence beyond cement into allied construction solutions.

The range currently includes 20 products — from tile adhesives and bonding agents to repair mortars and waterproofing chemicals — all manufactured in-house. Another 20 are slated to follow, the company said, having set up five units for this business at a cost of about Rs 400 crore.

Ramco Cements CEO AV Dharmakrishnan said the firm aims to increase revenues from cement and allied products to approximately Rs 16,000 crore. For the year ended March 2024, the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 356 crore, a 13 percent increase from the previous year, on revenue of approximately Rs 9,392 crore, driven by higher sales volumes of both cement and dry mortar.

Ramco Cements, which commands roughly 22–23 per cent of the Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets, currently runs at an annual cement capacity of 21 million tonne and has plans to increase that to 30 million tonnes by 2026.

The market does hold promise. “This fiscal, cement demand will be driven by a 7-8% growth in the rural housing segment, which accounts for a third of the domestic demand," Sehul Bhatt, Director, Crisil Intelligence, told The Federal. "Indeed, rural housing demand will replace infrastructure segment as the primary demand driver this fiscal owing to expectations of rise in agricultural income on likely healthy monsoon. Higher disposable income on account of lower interest rates and tax cuts as well as benign inflation will also support rural housing demand.”

Uttam Kumar Srimal, Analyst, Axis Securities, said cement demand is expected to remain strong in FY26, "supported by sustained government infrastructure spending, steady housing demand, and a recovery in rural consumption". "We forecast high single-digit volume growth across the sector," he added.

Broader industry shifts

Ramco’s move mirrors a wider shift across the industry. Take the country's largest player UltraTech Cement, which is now leaning on blended cements such as Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) and Portland Slag Cement (PSC), which swap out part of the clinker (the most carbon-intensive ingredient) for fly ash or slag. Its plaster line, DuraPlast, is promoted on the basis of lower water demand.

Even Adani-controlled ACC and Ambuja have rolled out ECOPact concrete, a low-carbon variant that uses recycled construction waste. Also joining the ranks, Dalmia Cement is piloting limestone calcined clay cement (LC3), which can halve clinker use, and has pledged to become carbon-negative within 15 years. Meanwhile, JK Lakshmi Cement has invested in lightweight putty and plasters designed to reduce both cement and water consumption.

Ramco says it hopes to pull off what it did in the past, when it was an early mover on blended cements, having introduced fly-ash and slag-based varieties in the 1990s. Balaji K Moorthy, executive director, marketing, Ramco Cements, said, "Our history gives us credibility in the sustainability narrative."

Given that other cement companies are also in stiff competition, Ramco hopes to leverage its regional advantage. At the event, the company emphasised its strong presence in the South with a distribution network of over 9,700 dealers, and hundreds of builders and contractors.

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Why chemicals matter

For Ramco, construction chemicals are both a diversification and a margin play. Cement remains a commoditised, cyclical business tied to limestone availability and freight costs, whereas value-added products such as plasters and adhesives offer higher returns, are less capital-intensive, and can be branded more easily.

For its construction chemicals segment, the company has set a target of Rs 2,000 crore within five years. If achieved, that would make chemicals nearly a tenth of its topline, compared to a low single-digit share today.

This bet is not without risk. Chemicals require consistent quality control and customer support, and Ramco will have to compete not just with domestic cement makers but also with multinational chemical suppliers who already dominate specialised segments.

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Costs, carbon, and competition

Another push factor is cost. Tamil Nadu this year imposed a mineral tax of Rs 160 per tonne on limestone, which analysts estimate will increase cement production costs. With more than half of Ramco’s limestone capacity in the state, finding margin buffers is critical. Higher-value chemicals and eco-friendly mixes provide one such buffer.

The carbon agenda is also unavoidable. Cement production accounts for approximately 7–8 percent of global CO₂ emissions, with clinker being the primary contributor. By expanding its range of plasters and blended products that require less clinker and water, Ramco is aligning itself with regulators and financiers who are increasingly linking credit terms and project approvals to sustainability metrics.

This, again, is a sector-wise trend. "Raw material costs saw a slight uptick, but the overall power and fuel costs have been well-managed by cement makers, thanks to a sustained focus on green energy and operational efficiencies," noted Srimal of Axis Securities.

The launch of 'Hard Worker' comes with a nationwide marketing campaign across television, digital and outdoor media. Ramco is framing it as a tribute to masons and contractors — though in practice, it is also about repositioning the company from a commodity supplier to a solutions provider.