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Journalism of Courage
The cement industry 8212; which had been in a slump from 1996 to 1998 8212; is now showing clear signs of an upswing. This is also one of the first few signals of turnaround of the Indian economy from the two-year long sluggishness.
According to a recent report brought out by Ficci, cement now rides the upswing in the commodity cycle and has set off a rally on the bourses in major cement stocks. Market capitalisation has gone up by nearly 85 per cent since December 1996.
The upswing is also reflected in the firming up of the cement prices in western, southern and northern parts of the country. However, the price rise has still lagged behind the WPI increase and may not have compensated the manufacturers fully for the increase in input prices.
