18th NCB International Conference and Exhibition on Cement, Concrete and Building Materials inaugurated by Secretary DPIIT

The 18^th NCB International Conference & Exhibition on Cement, Concrete, and Building Materials, was inaugurated by Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Shri Amardeep Singh Bhatia, at Yashobhoomi Convention Centre, Dwarka, New Delhi. He also inaugurated the Technical Exhibition concurrently held with the conference.

Shri Amardeep Singh Bhatia complimented the Indian cement industry for being one of the best in the world in terms of energy efficiency and role played by the cement industry in the circular economy framework in our country. He conferred the NCB Lifetime Achievement Award to Padmashri Dr. HC Visvesvaraya in recognition of his exemplary contributions to the cement and concrete sector.

The Secretary also released a short film on 200 Glorious Years of Cement and Concrete Construction Industry, Conference Souvenir, Conference Proceedings, Compendium titled “The Cement Industry-India 2024” and a publication on Alternative fuels and raw materials.

The conference is organized by National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB), an apex R&D organization under the administrative control of DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India. The event will conclude on 29^th November 2024 with the presentation of National Awards for Cement Industry to the best participating cement plants and Best Paper Awards to papers of special merit presented during the conference. Speaking on the occasion, Dr L P Singh, DG-NCB highlighted the role of research and development in tackling the issues of Indian Cement Industry such as decarbonization, circular economy and sustainability.

Joint Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Sanjiv Singh, was the guest of honour on the occasion, and requested the cement industry to support startups working in the field of cement, concrete and building materials sector. Shri Neeraj Akhoury, Chairman-NCB, President-CMA & MD-Shree Cement Ltd. and Shri Mahendra Singhi, Member of Board of Director & Strategic Advisor, Dalmia Cement (B) Ltd. also addressed the gathering on achievements of Indian cement industry and challenges faced to achieve the target of Net Zero by 2070.

The top leaders of the Indian cement industry together with experts and stakeholders from around the globe will be discussing the innovations and sustainability in the cement and building materials sector during the three days of the conference.