Asian Paints Proposes White Cement Manufacturing Facility

Asian Paints signed a binding term sheet with Riddhi Siddhi Crusher & Land Transport (Riddhi Siddhi), Fujairah, United Arab Emirates and Associated Soap Stone Distributing Company Private Limited (ASD), inter alia, to form a joint venture to carry out the business of manufacturing and exporting white cement and white cement clinkers by setting up a manufacturing plant in Fujairah, UAE, subject to due diligence and necessary regulatory and other approvals.

The joint venture would be a 60:40 partnership between the company and Riddhi Siddhi & ASD.

The initial capacity of the manufacturing facility, to be set up in Fujairah, UAE, would be 265,000 tons per annum. In addition, clinker grinding units would be set up in India as well. The overall investment would be approximately Rs. 550 crores ($66 million), to be invested over the next two years.

White cement is a key raw material in the manufacture of powder paints and undercoats like putty – a powder levelling solution used for various interior/exterior substrates. In addition, white cement is used in the home construction and repair segment, for various applications like – tile/marble fixing, sanitary-ware work, repair work, etc. The market for usage in undercoats and in repair/tile fixing area is growing at 15-20% every year.

Riddhi Siddhi holds mining rights for high quality limestone mines in Fujairah, UAE. ASD is one of the trusted suppliers of certain raw materials to the paint Industry and have partnered with Riddhi Siddhi for setting up the joint venture with the company.

“Asian Paints is excited to enter the white cement space by setting up its own manufacturing facility in partnership with Riddhi Siddhi and ASD in Fujairah, UAE,” said Amit Syngle, managing director and CEO of Asian Paints Limited. “We have always innovated in our offerings and with this we will enrich our powder products with custom made, value for money white cement, coupled with an uninterrupted supply, to deliver a strong value to our customers.

“Given the synergy of 70% of the white cement being sold through the paint/hardware/tile retailers, this offers Asian Paints a huge opportunity to market white cement to our extensive network of dealers across the country,” Syngle added. “This unique endeavour of backward integration and having a finished product gives us a chance to value add to our customers and at the same time add to our revenue and margins.”