Prism Cement, a leading cement manufacturer, has announced that its second quarter net profit has plummeted by 52 percent ato Rs 31.03 crore from the same quarter last fiscal.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said that it had registered a net profit of Rs 64.45 crore in the same quarter Financial Year 2008.

Net sales of the company slumps declined to Rs 214.79 crore in the quarter under review, versus Rs 228.11 crore in the same period a year ago.

All the major cement manufacturers have reduced the price of cement by up to Rs 7 per bag due to the government's move to reduce CENVAT by 4%.

Led by the country's largest manufacturer ACC, leading firms like Ambuja, JK Lakshmi, JK Cement, Dalmia Cement and Shree Cement have slashed their rates. Cement is available between Rs 150 and Rs 250 across the country. ACC and Ambuja Cements together, have a capacity of 41 million tonnes (MT), one-fifth of the total domestic market. They have plans to add another 15 MT of fresh capacities by 2010.

India’s largest cement maker ACC has announced that the conglomerate has acquired 40% equity stake in Goa-based Alcon Cement Company for Rs 222.5 million.

Alcon has a clinker grinding and cement packing plant in Goa with a production capacity of 500 tonnes a day. It entered into a joint venture with ACC for technical and marketing support.

According to the sources, the equity stake was acquired in the previous quarter. 

Dalmia Cement Bharat has informed that its subsidiary named ‘Dalmia Cement Ventures Limited’ is setting up greenfield cement plants of up to 10 million tons per annum (MTPA) capacity in different parts of the country.

The company is setting up two greenfield plants at Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh) and Ariyalur (Tamil Nadu) with a capacity of 2 MTPA each.

Dalmia Cement currently operates a 3.5 MTPA plant in Tamil Nadu. The company also holds a 21.7% stake in OCL India Ltd., having a capacity of 2 MTPA which is being expanded to 4 MTPA.