BS reported that, barely a fortnight after the French cement major Lafarge acquired L&T Concrete, the ready mix concrete business of Larsen & Toubro and several domestic cement players have shown interest for foraying into ready mix concrete business. Binani Cement, Shree Cement and Dalmia Cement are among the new players who have plans to get into RMC business in 1 to 5 years.

Mr Vinod Juneja MD of Binani Cement said that "We are studying the viability aspect and hope to get into it in the next 18 months. It has a good future in India and we plan to foray organically with our own set up." He added that it already has RMC unit at its Dubai plants. So with that expertise it would be easier for it to start own RMC business in India.

Mr T Venkateshan CEO of Dalmia Cement said that "RMC has a long way to go in the country and we may foray into it in a year's time." He added that demand for RMC is everywhere in India.

Mr KC Birla CFO of UltraTech said that "We are setting up a new RMC plant every fortnight." He added that it has plans to take the number of its RMC units almost to 100 in the next couple of years.

Mr HM Bangur CMD of Shree Cement said that "The RMC market will take time to mature in India. Unless a company has a countrywide presence, it is difficult to compete. Let the market mature then in the next 5 years we will set up RMC plants."

Mr AK Saraugi CFO of JK Cement said that "We have to study and explore possibilities how to go ahead with RMC. But any such initiatives would come only after completing our new cement plant in Karnataka."

At present, there are over 200 RMC plants spread across India with southern region housing more than half of them.