2011

SYNOPSIS ON MARKET PERCEPTION ABOUT BLENDED CEMENT

Under the Corporate guide:

Mr. G. Venkateswara Rao Area Sales Manager The India Cements Limited Hyderabad

SUBMITTED TO: ARIJIT SANTIKARY ASST. PROFESSOR ( MARKETING)

SUBMITTED BY: SANTOSH SINGH M5-34

INDUSRTY PROFILE Cement Industry in India is on a roll at the moment. Driven by a booming real estate sector, global demand and increased activity in infrastructure development such as state and national highways, the cement industry has witnessed tremendous growth. Production capacity has gone up and top cement companies of the world are vying to enter the Indian market, thereby sparking off a spate of mergers and acquisitions. Indian cement industry is currently ranked second in the world. The origins of Indian cement industry can be traced back to 1914 when the first unit was set-up at Porbandar with a capacity of 1000 tonnes. Today cement industry comprises of 125 large cement plants and more than 300 mini cement plants. The Cement Corporation of India, which is a Central Public Sector Undertaking, has 10 units. There are 10 large cement plants owned by various State Governments. Cement industry in India has also made tremendous strides in technological upgradation and assimilation of latest technology. Presently, 93 per cent of the total capacity in the industry is based on modern and environment-friendly dry process technology. The induction of advanced technology has helped the industry immensely to conserve energy and fuel and to save materials substantially. Indian cement industry has also acquired technical capability to produce different types of cement like Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement (PBFS), Oil Well Cement, Rapid Hardening Portland Cement, Sulphate Resisting Portland Cement, White Cement etc. Some of the major clusters of cement industry in India are: Satna (Madhya Pradesh), Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Gulbarga (Karnataka), Yerranguntla (Andhra Pradesh), Nalgonda (Andhra Pradesh), Bilaspur (Chattisgarh), and Chandoria (Rajasthan). . Cement industry in India is currently going through a consolidation phase. Some examples of consolidation in the Indian cement industry are: Gujarat Ambuja taking a 36 stake of 14 per cent in ACC, and taking over DLF Cements and Modi Cement; ACC taking over IDCOL; India Cement taking over Raasi Cement and Grasim's acquisition of the cement business of L&T, Indian Rayon's cement division, and Sri Digvijay Cements. Foreign cement companies are also picking up stakes in large Indian cement companies.

Issues concerning Cement Industry High Transportation Cost is affecting the competitiveness of the cement industry. Freight accounts for 17% of the production cost. Road is the preferred mode for transportation for distances less than 250km. However, industry is heavily dependant on roads for longer distances too as the railway infrastructure is not adequate.

 Cement industry is highly capital intensive industry and nearly 55-60% of the inputs are controlled by the government. There is regional imbalance in the distribution of cement industry, as Limestone availability is limited to certain pockets, the country has led to uneven capacity additions. Coal availability and quality is also affecting the production.

COMPANY PROFILE India Cements Limited is a cement manufacturing company in India. It was established in 1946 and the first plant was set up at Sankarnagar in Tamil Nadu in 1949. It has about seven cement manufacturing plants spread over Southern India catering to major markets in South India and Maharashtra. The capacities of its plants are over 9 million tons per annum. Sankar Cement and Coramandel Cement are the brands used by ICL to market their products. The company is headed by N. Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director. The day-today affairs of the company are managed by Executive President Mr. T.S.Raghupathy and other key personnel in each functional area. India Cements Ltd. also owns Indian Premier League's Chennai franchise, Chennai Super Kings. N. Srinivasan is also involved in BCCI and AICF, the Indian administrative bodies for Cricket and Chess. Coromandel Infotech India Ltd is an IT initiative of INDIA CEMENTS.

Type Industry Founded Headquarters Key people

Private Sector Construction 1946 Sankarnagar, Tamil Nadu, India N.Srinivasan Vice Chairman

Products Employees Website

and Managing Director Cement 7500 www.indiacements.co.in

ON JOB TRANING: I used to repot Mr. G. Venkateswara Rao , Area Sales Manager , The India Cements Limited , Hyderabad . I used to discuss about the industry and the company all about in my initial days. After some days he allotted me a research work. He told me to do my research on the topic Market perception about blended cement. I prepared a questionnaire for both retailers and customers and get it approved from my corporate guide Mr. G. Venkateswara Rao and my faculty guide Arijit Santikary. After that I started my research work, I used to go on the field in different areas of Hyderabad as per my corporate guide to get my questionnaire filled by retailers and customers. I faced various problems on the job like: y y y y Few retailers and customers were not co-operative. Deliberate falsification of answers by the retailers and customers due to time pressure. Inability of the retailers to answer few questions. My lack of knowledge on local language made my interactions with the retailers and customers difficult which affected the data collection. Due to time pressure few questions were skipped.

At the end I learned various things like: y Building a good relation within small interaction is also important otherwise it may affect the goodwill of India cement ltd and I successfully did it. How to interact with people ? How to convince them to get your work done ? You need to be polite and have patience to get your work done.

y y y

Way of communication and personality has immense importance in pursuing and get the attention of respondent.

Lastly, I analyzed and interpreted the data collected by me through questionnaire and tried my best to give something valuable to the company and I successfully did it, my corporate guide has appreciated my findings and suggestion, and console me that he will communicate my suggestion and recommendation to upper level management.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY  To Study about the perception of the customer and dealers for India cements ltd.  To Study about the customer and dealer knowledge about blended cement  To get an idea of effective media through which customer and dealers came to know about blended cement.

 To get an idea of satisfaction level of customers and dealers about the price of blended cement available in market.

 To know about the most influencing factor which influences the customers and dealers while choosing any brand of blended cement.

 To check out the satisfaction level of customers and dealers about the product of India cement (RAASI GOLD PPC cement).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: This research involved a study, which was descriptive as well as explorative in nature. It basically aims at gathering data about the perception of blended cement in market from retailers and customers. Sample Profile: - Sampling plan consists of: a) Sampling Unit: - The retailer of cement and customers was selected from different places of Secunderabad/Hyderabad. b) Sampling Procedure: - Simple Random sampling procedure was followed. c) Sampling Method: - Data was collected from retailers and customers. The retailers and customers are directly contacted and interviewed. d) Sample Size: Sample size of the project is 1oo.

Research Design:The primary data was collected through the surveys. For the survey the personal interview of retailers and customers were targeted in various regions of Hyderabad/Secunderabad. Survey was undertaken to find out the information that was needed for the study. The research instruments used for collecting the primary data were the questionnaires prepared.

DATA ANALYSIS & DATA INTERPRETATION:

Which type of cement you used?

80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent
OPC 53

71

OPC 43 Grade

14

PPC cement / Blended cement

Do you know the advantages of Blended cement over OPC cement?

100 80 60 40 20 0

84
Yes

16
No.of respondent

No

How do you come to know about Blended cement?

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

78
Print Media Electronic Media

14

Hordings Wall Paintings

No. of respondent

Which cement gives you more durability?

100 80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent

82

OPC Blended Cement

18

Which cement gives you more strength?

80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent

78
OPC

22
Blended Cement

Which cement gives you more workability?

80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent

73
OPC

27
Blended Cement

Rate the availability of Blended cement in the market?

60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Good Average

57

Very good

21

15 7 0

Poor Very poor

No. of respondent

Are you satisfied with the price of Blended cement available in market?
80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent

64 36
Yes No

Will brand image of any company will influence you while choosing any brand of Blended cement?
80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent

79
Yes

21

No

Whose advice will influence you while choosing any brand of Blended cement?
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

74

Self Mason Engineer

6 3

14 1

Friend's suggestion Dealer

No. of repondents

For what type of work you generally use Blended cement?

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

66
Entire requirement

26 8
No. of respondents

Plastering and brick work Small reguirement

What factor will influence you to prefer Blended cement?

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

68
Price Availability

20 9 3

Quality Above all

No. of respondent

Are you satisfied with Blended cement?

100 80 60 40 20 0 No. of respondent
Yes No

94

How do you rate RAASI GOLD PPC cement?

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 44
Very good

31

Good Average

17 7 1 No. of respondents

Poor Very poor

FINDINGS OF THE PROJECT

y y

84% of respondent are aware of advantages of PPC cement over OPC cement. 64% respondents say that they are not satisfied with the price of available in the market. blended cement

79% of the respondents say that brand image of any company will influence us while choosing any brand of Blended cement. 74% of the respondents say that engineer advice will influence us while choosing any brand of Blended cement.

78% of respondent came to know about Blended cement through wall paintings.

Respondents are somewhat satisfied with the availability of blended cement. 68% of the respondents say that Availability will be the most important factor which influence them to prefer Blended cement.

94% of the respondents say that they are satisfied with Blended cement.

44% of the respondents rated good and 31% of the respondents rated average to RAASI GOLD PPC cement.

RECOMMONDATIONS: If industry wants to further increase the demand of cement in market, it can take the help of promotion and advertising to minimize the gap of customer point of view of using of blended cement from plastering and brick work to entire requirements as the difference is of only 40%. Industry can relate its promotional and advertisement strategies with social status or security point of view to further increase the demand of cement in market. Brand equity should be created. Prices should go with the volume and according to the competitors. Service stands should be given top priority. Technical Services should be provided by the companies to create awareness of brands to the consumers. Company should make stocks available on demand at all times with product mix. Dealer oriented schemes giving moral boost should be encouraged on par with other companies.

y y y y

y y

Logistic arrangements should be assured to dealers/ consumers for intercity movements.

y y

The periodical meetings with the retailers will help to know about expectations . company should give more importance in Brand Building.

ANNEXURES AND QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. Have you ever used any cement?

( ) Yes ( ) No

1. Which type of cement you used? ( ) OPC 43 Grade ( ) PPC cement / Blended cement

( (

) )

OPC 53 Grade Any other

2. Do you know the advantages of Blended cement over OPC

cement?
( ) Yes ( ) No

3. How do you come to know about Blended cement? ( ) Print Media ( ) Electronic Media ( ) Hoardings ( ) Wall Paints/POP 4. Which cement gives you more durability? ( ) OPC ( 5. Which cement gives you more strength? ( ) OPC

Blended cement

Blended cement

6. Which cement gives you more workability? ( ) OPC (

Blended cement

7. Rate the availability of Blended cement in the market? ( ) Very good ( ) Good ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( ) Very poor

8. Are you satisfied with the price of Blended cement available in

market?
( ) Yes ( ) No

9.

Will brand image of any company will influence you while choosing any brand of Blended cement?
( ) Yes ( ) No

10.

Whose advice will influence you while choosing any brand of Blended cement?
( ( ( ) ) ) Self engineer Dealer ( ( ( ) Mason ) Friends suggestion ) Any other

11. For what type of work you generally use Blended cement? ( ) Entire requirement ( ) Plastering and brick work ( ) Small requirement 12. What factor will influence you to prefer Blended cement? ( ) Price ( ) Availability ( ) Quality ( ) Above all 13. Are you satisfied with Blended cement? ( ) Yes

No

15. How do you rate RAASI GOLD PPC cement?

( ( ) Very good ) Poor ( ( ) ) Good Very poor ( ) Average