An Encouraging Outlook Towards The Ready-Mix-Concrete Market
Anil Kulkarni
National Category Head of Concrete, Infra.Market
Infra.Market is a one-stop construction solutions company with a vision of creating India’s largest multi-product construction materials brand. It is changing the construction eco-system through tech innovation in India and around the world. Incorporated in 2016, Infra.Market is transforming the world’s largest yet most fragmented ecosystem of construction. The company is one of the fastest-growing unicorns in India with best-in-class economics and profitability metrics. Mr. Anil Kulkarni, National Category Head of Concrete, Infra.Market, in conversation with CE&CR, shares his industry insights, product offerings and much more.
CE&CR: Please share an overview of Infra.Market’s RMC business? What are key factors that led to its growth?
Anil Kulkarni: Infra.Market has had quite a promising journey since inception. Concrete was one of the first products in the market. Coupled with technology and enhanced customer experience, we have been able to build a differentiated offering in the sector. And today, we have successfully reached a category defining position in the concrete industry.
Presently, our concrete division boasts of 200+ internal strength and transit mixers being deployed. Our 35+ QCI certified plants are present in nine states and have supplied nearly 3 lakhs m3 concrete across the country. We have witnessed signifficant development in roads and highways, metro rail, airports, ports, and urban infrastructure, in the past which has led to a boost in concrete consumption and a flourishing industry. Further, through our tech-innovation expertise, we have been able to provide complete access to the information right from batching to delivery status, thus ensuring outright transparency to all our clients. An in-house technical team is regularly in touch with clients to evaluate their requirements closely, thereby delivering appropriate concrete mix design as per needs. Additionally, we have centralized control over our mixed designs which leaves no room for inconsistencies or errors. These are a few of the key factors that have contributed to our unconventional growth. CE&CR: What is the outlook for the next couple of years/next trigger for growth? Anil Kulkarni: As per Union Budget FY23, long term structural reforms will be addressed, and major focus will be on infrastructure developments. Considerable impetus has been given to the sector in incentives including four multi-modal national parks and PM Gati Shakti masterplan will bring about a spurt in RMC demand. Hence, the growth of this sector is certainly expected for the next couple of years. With the impetus from the government on infrastructure and SOPs from the state governments we see a good increase in the addition of new customers and an increase in the number of budgetary quotes. Focus on smart cities, construction industry in India is booming with various projects like roads, metros, and airports in pipeline. To facilitate these developments, there has been a consistent increase in the demand for concrete supplies to metro works as well as various commercial spaces.
CE&CR: How has technology helped in advancing the services for RMC? How has tech innovation played a critical role in bringing out strong and sustainable concrete for Infra.Market?
Anil Kulkarni: Being tech-first has given us a competitive edge in the industry as we aim to leverage automation and make the end-to-end process seamless for our clients. Our plants are digitally led and interfaced with weighbridge whereas our app enables complete control of the production and delivery process. We have recently launched a single window app, Phoenix with a vision of digitizing the entire value chain, right from identifying the prospective customer to actual delivery of concrete to end customer. The app assists in onboarding customers, identifying their credit requirements, sending quotes, receiving POs, punching orders, matchmaking of suppliers, and finally managing the delivery of nished products. Phoenix enables near real time reporting and dashboards providing complete visibility around the supply chain thus helping in optimizing the entire experience for customers.
In addition to this, our trucks are installed with GPS and other sensors to ensure that the concrete is monitored right up to the construction site. Besides this, we have also introduced e-ticketing to go paperless in the future. Being a technology-first company in this highly traditional sector has helped us in multiple ways. One of the critical outcomes of this is that we can reduce paper wastage to a great extent. In addition to this, all our plants are installed with concrete recycling systems, cement dust collectors, fogging, and water sprinkling systems to protect the environment. Additionally, we promote the use of manufactured sand and are also working on using recycled aggregates to make our concrete greener and more sustainable
CE&CR: What are your products and offerings? Any update on expansion plans?
Anil Kulkarni: We offer a variety of solutions for varied requirements. Our product range includes self-compacted concrete for leaner and densely reinforced structures, architectural concrete for artistic applications, colored concretes, concrete in bags and buckets for repairs, high strength concretes for faster construction, ultra-high strength concretes for the high rises, low carbon concretes, highly durable concretes for structures that need higher service life, special fiber reinforced concretes for factory oors, waterproofed and water repelling concretes as per the application, high rise and long distance plumbing solutions are some of our offerings.
We look forward to growing rapidly in the segment by establishing our presence in the nook and corner of our country.
CE&CR: How is the market for RMC shaping up in India?
Anil Kulkarni: COVID19 certainly led to diminishing volumes, however, presently as the circumstances are getting better and the market is gradually opening, we have noticed a sudden spike in demand. The daily run rates today are more or less the same as they were in pre-COVID times or slightly on a higher side.
Residential as well as commercial projects are spiking owing to the push from the central government on infrastructure and SOPs on stamp duties from the state government. We are also welcoming new customers and have been noticing an increase in the number of budgetary quotes. In fact, profitability for us at Infra.Market has almost reached pre-Covid levels as the volumes have returned due to a signifficant and consistent infrastructure push by the government. The thrust of the government in developing Infrastructure will be a major growth driver in India.
CE&CR: How has the sector / Infra.Market evolved post pandemic?
Anil Kulkarni: The Covid-19 pandemic did disrupt the normal workflow as organizations shifted business operations to support a remote workforce. Forward-looking organizations used the workflow disruptions as an opportunity to embrace innovative approaches and created new work ows to support employees outside the traditional office perimeter. Tech innovation has sparked a revolution in the concrete industry. For Infra.Market, the combination of modern technology and operational expertise needed to capture efficiencies led to sustainable growth. Now we are getting more technology that is geared toward gathering information and convenience, we have seen other segments like logistics and transportation evolve like never before.
We have reached the pre-COVID19 level in terms of profitability; the volumes and growth have increased. Such a spike is also because of the government’s thrust in focusing on infrastructure in India. Our Phoenix app enables near real time reporting and dashboards providing complete visibility around the supply chain thus helping in optimizing the entire experience for customers. Furthermore, notable development is noticed in roads and highways, metro rail, airports, ports, and urban infrastructure. All these factors will certainly lead to a boost in the sector. Additionally, the government initiative towards affordable housing, smart cities, and dedicated freight corridors will provide opportunities for setting up new RMC plants across the country.
For further information,
visit: www.infra.market
