Building Material-HIL, Visaka Industries, Everest Industries

Modi wave is taking us along. He said “Swatch Bharat” and whole country lifted brooms. Big corporate houses announced big plans for bringing cleanliness in villages under their CSR activities. We are counting sanitryware companies to be the biggest beneficiaries of this (Our HSIL is doing great, it is at 415/- from our price of Rs. 90/-).  But we just forget the humble cement fibre sheets because every toilet made in villages or town is going to use these. We can’t forget the rocket…E-commerce sector…which is going to create huge investments in warehousing which is also about cement fibre sheets.

These sheets use Asbestos fibre which is banned in almost all of western countries due to perceived lung complications but as our poor in villages still use Kutcha roofs…these provide affordable roofing option to them so they aren’t going anywhere atleast over a medium term. Also the variant of Asbestos (Chrysotile) used in india is not perceived as dangerous.

But my reason for choosing these is not because of Modi Wave. But because these companies are investing heavily in next generation building materials. Indian building material industry is still about red clay bricks, high doses of steel and cement. Clay bricks are natural disaster as they are destroying much needed and in short supply soil. One Sq feet of carpet area with clay bricks walling consumes around 25 kg of top soil and around 8 Kg of coal. More emphasis is being put on energy efficiency rather than energy consumption.

Cement Fibre Boards/panels and Autoclave Aerated Concrete Blocks (AAC Blocks)  are going to revolutionize the way we build our structures. Cement Fiber boards are made of cement, wood particle, fine silica, quartz and some other minerals...they are then cured under high pressure steam to get the desired high strength and stability. They act as substitute for wood and plywood but provide added protection against fire, water and termites.

To be continued….

(I have bought HIL at 680/- and Visaka industries at 120/-)