Cement prices stay steady at Rs. 334 per bag in March

Prelims level : Economy – Industry Mains level : GS III - Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
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All India prices of cement remained steady at Rs. 334 per bag during March despite increases in southern and eastern regions.

South and eastern regions witnessed a price hike of Rs. 5 per bag while prices declined by Rs. 1-11 per bag in north, central and west. Since January, cement prices in the south had increased by Rs. 45 per bag.

The Cement Industry in India is one of the basic industries in India. The organised production of cement in India was started in 1904 in Madras (Now Chennai). It is basically weight-losing industry. So, the localization of the industry is in area of raw materials. Its major raw materials are coal, limestone and gypsum. Since the largest reserves of limestone are in Madhya Pradesh, the maximum development of this industry has been in this state. Recently, sea shells, sludge obtained from chemical fertilizers and slag obtained from iron and steel industry are also used as raw materials besides limestone.

India’s Cement Industry is the second largest producer of cement in world. It plays an important role in development of a country and contributes very high in Indian GDP. A significant factor which aids the growth of this sector is the ready availability of the raw materials for making cement, such as limestone and coal.

8 Core Industries

  • Core industry can be defined as the main industry. In most countries, there is a particular industry that seems to be the backbone of all other industries and it qualifies to be the core industry.
  • In India, there are eight core sectors comprising of
    1. Refinery products (28.04%)
    2. Electricity (19.85%)
    3. Steel (17.92%)
    4. Coal (10.33%)
    5. Crude oil (8.98%)
    6. Natural gas (6.88%)
    7. Cement (5.37%)
    8. Fertilisers (2.63%)
  • These eight Core Industries comprise nearly27%of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures factory output.
  • Index of Eight Core Industries is released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
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