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In an interview with Dinesh Gulati, COO of IndiaMART InterMesh Ltd., he reveals how digital tools are reshaping the cement sector and boosting industry growth.
Q: The Indian cement industry is projected to grow by 8% in FY25. What are the primary drivers behind this growth, and how do you see the industry evolving over the next five years?
In PM Awas Yojana initiative, the Indian government announced construction of 2 crore more houses within the next five years. From a transportation standpoint, 51 new airports will be built with continued expansion of existing ones. Expansion of national highway corridors and metro lines in 27 cities are ongoing with 21 more cities listed for proposed metro lines. Government’s PM Gati Shakti (energy, mineral, cement; port connectivity; high traffic density) programme is working to build three economic railway corridor programmes. Today, approximately 40% to 45% of projects under the NIP are currently under different implementation phases. In the coming years, 55-60% of infrastructure projects will get started in the coming years, safeguarding the demand for cement for a foreseeable period. The launch of the PLI scheme has also enhanced domestic manufacturing capabilities and promoted exports. Since the inception in 2021, it has attracted over ₹1.03 lakh crore in investments and set up 1,300 units so far, with more than half of it already operational. Additionally, India’s growing urbanization and continuous policy efforts to improve rural income will increase the need for more affordable brick-and-mortar buildings, thereby charting the journey towards growth for the sector over the next couple of years.
Q: With 15.5 million enquiries on cement from 2019 to 2023, what key factors do you believe have driven this robust demand? Are there specific sectors or projects that have significantly contributed to this increase?
Over 28 years, IndiaMART has evolved from a simple listing platform into a comprehensive business solution for small and large enterprises across different industries. Today, the building and construction industry receives a large volume of buying requirements, with 8% of total paid suppliers and lakhs of free sellers dealing in the cement and construction business.
Today, eight out of ten customers do an online search of the product before committing to an offline purchase, reflecting the growing power of digital. As the customers look for digital modes, so do the businesses, thereby accelerating the movement from offline to online and driving more traffic on the marketplace such as ours. In addition to this, IndiaMART provides wider access to the market, more options for buyers and competitive prices are the key drivers for growing enquiries on the platform. For cement buyers, IndiaMART provides a wide range of products to choose from such as OPC, PPC, POP, Gypsum Plaster, White cement, Readymix Concrete, Ready mix plaster, PSC, Concrete cement, Epoxy Grout – among others.
Our teams invest substantial time in understanding the buyers’ behavior and the kind of specifications they look at while buying cement, such as grade, feature, packaging size, origin, packaging type, shelf life, brand, and usage – among others. These insights are further used to enhance the overall buying experience, educate the sellers on how to improve their online catalog, and add all the specifications to increase visibility and make the buying experience better for users.
Q: The report indicates that 42% of requests were for personal use, 38% for business use, and 20% for reselling. Can you elaborate on the different needs and expectations of these buyer segments, and how IndiaMART caters to each?
Cement buying requirements tend to come in larger quantities, despite it being for personal use or business use. The personal use requirements could range from home use or building their specific shops or houses, whereas the business consumption is majorly to replenish their stock, fulfill customer orders, and acquire for industrial building and construction purposes. In the past five years, 21% of IndiaMART buyers enquired for 76-100 cement bags, 27% of buyers enquired for 100-500 bags and 12% shared requirements for 500-1,000 bags, with 50kg cement bag as a priority for almost two-thirds of the buyers.
Additionally, the reselling enquiries that accounted for 20% are majorly where sellers or distributors are connecting with manufacturers for procurement purposes. The wide range of GST-verified suppliers with business information, honest user ratings and pricing insights provide buyers with the freedom to connect, engage with sellers and finalize a deal at their convenience, thereby helping them find the perfect match for them.
Q: Uttar Pradesh leads in cement enquiries on IndiaMART with 16%. What regional trends have you observed across other states, and what factors contribute to these variations in demand?
The state of Uttar Pradesh is among the top ten cement producing states of the country, naturally leading to increased number of buyer-seller engagements on the platform. The state is also a manufacturing hub for industries including electronics (hosts 40% of the country’s mobile manufacturing and 55% of mobile component manufacturing), automotive (Tata Motors, Honda, and Yamaha), green manufacturing (1,000 acres parked in Agra), creating an increase in consumption of cement in the state itself. We have close to 50,000+ sellers in the state registered either free or on a paid basis with us and the success rate for any enquiry/engagement lies above 50%. This reflects that the sellers are actively engaging in meaningful conversations with the buyers, fulfilling their orders and close deals with them.
Q: The cement industry has a notable multiplier effect on economic output and job creation. Can you discuss the broader economic implications of the cement sector’s growth and its role in supporting ancillary industries?
The cement industry has both direct and indirect impacts on the economy, with a multiplier effect of 4.16 on economic output and 1.53 on GDP. It is one of the eight core industries for a sustainable structural transformation of the subcontinent. Every million tons of installed cement production capacity creates 20,000 downstream jobs. During FY 2022-23, the Indian cement industry expected a capacity addition of 21.2 million tonnes, catering to newly commissioned projects worth 71.8 billion INR. The sector is an indirect catalyst for the growth of a range of ancillary industries, such as mining, transportation, logistics, and construction equipment manufacturing. It currently occupies the third-highest share in total cargo moved by the Indian Railways. Having such a vital role in the growth of multiple industries, cement continues to be an important mention in government initiatives. Overall, cement, being a core industry, has the potential to create a positive impact on economic growth and fasten the growth of other industries as well,
Q: How does IndiaMART ensure the seamless connection between relevant buyers and sellers in the cement industry? Are there specific features or tools on your platform that enhance these business interactions?
IndiaMART’s tech-enabled matchmaking capabilities allow buyers to find the most relevant suppliers as per their requirements in a few clicks. The platform provides sellers with an integrated CRM platform – Lead Management System (LMS) that creates a virtual environment by mimicking human interactions, resulting in more meaningful engagements and improved sales outcomes. LMS offers advanced AI solutions that understands the context of conversations and suggests appropriate replies to initiate and sustain dialogue. Today, the platform can even identify the product category of a business enquiry and provide tailored suggestions. For instance, a cement supplier receiving an enquiry will see suggestions such as, “How many bags are needed?” or “What grade type is required?” “What kind of packaging is preferred?” and so on. These suggestions are served within 100 ms and the system also supports Hinglish and other indic languages, making it more versatile for the user base. Currently, more than 60% of the messages on the platform are sent via the Suggested Replies module.
The sellers are also equipped with product catalogue management features such as automated image editing, background removal, and cropping, which makes it more visually appealing for users. Our recent product IM Insta allows sellers to connect with buyers via WhatsApp and help them close deals faster and easier.
Q: Looking ahead, what innovations or improvements is IndiaMART planning to implement to better serve the cement industry and its stakeholders? How do you foresee the role of digital marketplaces evolving in the context of industrial sectors like cement?
B2B marketplace like ours can help cement suppliers generate high-potential leads, identify relevant customers and facilitate communication with interested buyers, while digitalising their administrative processes. Potential buyers can locate brands and authorized dealers nearby, gain pricing insights, compare qualities and check availability for the required quantities from the comfort of their offices or homes. IndiaMART offers analytics tools that help businesses understand customer behavior, sales trends, and inventory management, helping them to make informed business decisions. The presence of consolidated marketing strategies at IndiaMART support businesses in streamlining their internal business processes via tools such as CRM, accounting software, product testing, lead generation, analytics and complete customer experience (CX), and become a one-stop destination for businesses and consumers entailing all the key operations. Our platform is integrated with AI to ensure behaviour-based matchmaking, multilingual search options, photo-search, price discovery, voice-based searches, processing ‘Hinglish’—a mix of Hindi and English to offer precise search results, conversational commerce, and transparency through comprehensive supplier catalog pages and trust-building measures like user ratings, reviews, and TrustSEAL Verification.
As the B2B businesses steadily kickstart their digital journey, marketplaces are bound to provide the requisite hand holding to them, expose their products to existing customer traffic, provide access to buyers much beyond their local geographies, create online visibility and digital enablement.