ACC Ltd is India's foremost manufacturer of cement and concrete. The company is engaged in the manufacture and selling of cement and ready-mixed concrete. They manufacture a range of Portland cement for general construction and special applications. In addition, they also offer two products namely; bulk cement and ready mix concrete. The company's operations are spread throughout the country with 17 modern cement factories, more than 57 Ready mix concrete plants, 21 sales offices, several zonal offices and a vast distribution network of over 11,000 dealers. Their subsidiaries include ACC Concrete Ltd, Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Ltd, ACC Mineral Resources Ltd, Lucky Minmat Ltd, National Limestone Co Pvt. Ltd and Encore Cements & Additives Pvt Ltd.ACC Ltd was incorporated on August 1, 1996 as The Associated Cement Companies Ltd. The company was formed by merger of ten existing cement companies. In the year 1944, they established India's first entirely indigenous cement plant at Chaibasa in Bihar. In the year 1956, they established bulk cement depot at Okhla, Delhi. In the year 1965, the company established Central Research Station at Thane. In the year 1973, they acquired The Cement Marketing Company of India. In the year 1978, they introduced energy efficient precalcinator technology for the first time in India. In the year 1982, the company commissioned their first 1 MTPA plant in the country at Wadi, Karnataka. In the year 1982, the company incorporated Bulk Cement Corporation of India, a joint venture with the Government of India. In the year 1993, they started commercial manufacture of Ready Mixed Concrete at Mumbai. In the year 1999, they commissioned captive power plants at the Jamul and Kymore plants in Madhya Pradesh.The house of TATA was intimately associated with the company upto 1999. In the year 1999, the Tata Group sold their 7.2% stake in the company to Ambuja Cement Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd and in the year 2000, Tata group sold their remaining stake in the company to Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. In the year 2001, the company commissioned a new plant of 2.6 MTPA capacity at Wadi, Karnataka. In the year 2003, IDCOL Cement Ltd becomes a subsidiary of the company, which was renamed as Bargarh Cement Ltd during the year 2004. In the year 2004, the company was named as Consumer Superbrand by the Superbrands Council of India, becoming the only cement company to get this status.In 2005, ACC Limited along with Ambuja Cements Limited became a part of the reputable Holcim group of Switzerland. In 2005, ACC completed the modernization and expansion project at Chaibasa in Jharkhand, replacing old wet process technology with a new 1.2 MTPA clinkering unit, together with a captive power plant of 15 MW. In the year 2006, the subsidiary companies Damodhar Cement & Slag Ltd, Bargarh Cement Ltd and Tarmac (India) Ltd merged with the company. Also, the name of the company was changed from The Associated Cement Companies Ltd to ACC Ltd with effect from September 1, 2006. In the year 2007, the company commissioned wind energy farm in Tamilnadu. In July 2007, the company sold their entire shareholding in their wholly owned subsidiary ACC Nihon Castings Ltd at a consideration of Rs 30 crore to V N Enterprises Ltd of Hindustan Udyog Group. In the year 2008, the ready mixed concrete business was hived off to a new subsidiary called ACC Concrete Ltd. They acquired 40% stake in Alcon Cement Company Pvt Ltd to strengthen their presence in Goa. Also, they acquired 12.41% equity shares of Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Ltd from IDBI Bank Ltd, thereby increasing their shareholding in the said subsidiary company to 94.65%.In March 2008, the company sold their wholly owned subsidiary, ACC Machinery Company Ltd for a consideration of Rs 45 crore. In July 7, 2008, they inaugurated ACC Cement Technology Institute at Jamul. In the year 2009, the company commissioned one 15 MW CPP as a part of Bargarh plant expansion. The additional captive power generating capacity of 50 MW in Wadi, 15 MW in Bargarh and 25 MW in Chanda is scheduled to be commissioned and stabilized in 2010. They inaugurated new Grinding plant of capacity 1.60 million tonnes at Thondebhavi in Karnataka. During the year, the company acquired 100% equity stake in National Limestone Company Pvt Ltd, making it as a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. Also, they acquired 100% equity stake in Encore Cements & Additives Pvt Ltd which has a slag grinding plant in Vishakhapatnam in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Consequently, ECAPL became a wholly owned subsidiary of the company with effect from January 28, 2010.In September 2009, the company installed and commissioned a coal washery in Jamul. Also, the company is in the process of commissioning a coal washery in the Bargarh plant in 2010. In January 4, 2010, Kudithini Cement Grinding Plant was inaugurated in Karnataka with a capacity of 1.1 MTPA of Portland Slag Cement.In April 2010, the company commissioned a 2.5-MW wind energy farm near Satara, Maharashtra, at a cost of Rs 13 crore. The wind farm has two 1.5-MW turbines. The power from the wind farm will be supplied through a wheeling arrangement to the company's Thane Complex and Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Ltd, a subsidiary company at Kalamboli, near Mumbai.In the year 2010, the company commissioned the the 2.5 MW wind mill project in Maharashtra. Also, they commissioned one CPP of 25 MW at Wadi, two 15 MW CPPs at Bargarh and one 25 MW CPP at Chanda during the year. The company through their wholly owned subsidiary ACC Mineral Resources Ltd entered into joint venture agreements with Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corporation Ltd for development of four coal blocks.In April 2010, the company completed the acquisition of a 45% equity stake in Asian Concrete and Cements Pvt Ltd. This company commenced production from their new grinding unit during the year. In June 2010, the Financial Express-EVI Green Business Leadership Award 2009-10 was conferred on ACC Ltd for being the 'Best Performer' in the cement category. This award is an acknowledgement of ACC's commitment towards its environmental friendly initiatives in the country.In November 2010, the company commissioned the world's largest kiln with a capacity of 12500 tpd at Wadi in the State of Karnataka. They commenced trial production in the clinkering unit at Chanda in Maharashtra having a kiln capacity of 7000 tpd and commenced commercial production during the first quarter of the financial year 2011.In the year 2011, the company installed the world's largest kiln at Wadi, Karnataka with a capacity of 12,500 tonnes per day. The Operations of the state-of-the-art kiln at Wadi and the cement grinding plants at Kudithini and Thondebhavi stabilized during the year. The new clinkering unit at Chanda in Maharashtra also stabilized its operations during the year. The cement mill at Chanda was successfully commissioned during the year under review and commercial operations have commenced in January 2012 after appropriate ramping up.In November 2011, the Secretarial and Share Departments of the company received an ISO 9001-2008 certification from Det Norske Veritas (DNV) AS Certification Services. During the year, the company made an application to the Honorable High Court of Judicature at Bombay for approval to a scheme of amalgamation of three of the company's wholly owned subsidiaries viz. Encore Cement and Additives Pvt Ltd, Lucky Minmat Ltd and National Limestone Company Pvt Ltd. On 29 February 2012, ACC announced that the company has decided to set up a new clinker production facility of 2.79 MTPA and allied grinding facility at Jamul in Chhattisgarh to meet the growing demand for cement in the Eastern region. The existing clinkering and grinding lines at Jamul will be phased out. The company is also planning decentralized grinding stations which will use clinker produced at Jamul. The project will be implemented in a phased manner and scheduled for completion by Q1 2015.On 24 November 2012, ACC announced the introduction of two breakthrough solutions UTWT 24 and Speedcrete for instant road surface overlay and repair in India. UTWT 24 and Speedcrete are integrated novel solutions comprising of amorphous materials and contain cement, modified polymers, mineral & chemical admixtures that help in quickly achieving desired properties of concrete.On 13 December 2012, the Board of Directors of the company approved the payment of Technology and Knowhow fees to its parent firm Holcim Limited, Switzerland at the rate of 1% of the net annual sales of the company with effect from 1 January 2013. In 2012, ACC launched M-100 grade concrete especially designed for the construction of high intensity towers. During the year, ACC became the first cement company in India to induct use of Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking to accelerate turnaround time of trucks.In 2013, ACC set up Green Building Material Centres in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan as one stop shops to promote low-cost locally made green construction materials and expertise to rural and semi-urban India.In January 2014, ACC launched its first Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) at Gagal, marking an important step in energy conservation. The WHRS harnesses waste heat from exhaust gases discharged in manufacturing and converts it into useful electrical energy. During the year, ACC set up a plant in Bardhaman, West Bengal to manufacture EcoBricks which are eco-friendly and technically superior fly ash based bricks to meet the emerging needs of the construction industry in a sustainable way.In 2015, ACC's parent company Holcim Limited and Lafarge SA came together in a merger of equals to form LafargeHolcim. During the year, ACC set up two waste pre-processing plants at Wadi in Maharashtra and Kymore in Madhya Pradesh to enhance its usage of industrial wastes.At the time of announcement of its financial performance for the April-June 2016 quarter, ACC announced that commercial production of clinker from the new 9,000 tpd kiln at Jamul, Chhattisgarh commenced from 19 July 2016. With effect from 12 August 2016, Ambuja Cements Limited (ACL) replaced Holcim (India) Private Limited (HIPL) as one of the promoters of ACC following the implementation of a scheme of amalgamation between ACL and HIPL. As on 12 August 2016, ACL held 50.05% stake in ACC. Holderind Investments Limited (HIL) continues to remain a promoter of ACC with 0.29% stake as on 12 August 2016. LafargeHolcim Ltd. continues to remain the ultimate holding company and part of the promoter group of ACC.At the time of announcement of its financial performance for the July-September 2016 quarter, ACC announced that it commissioned new 2.79 million tonnes clinkering line and a 1.1 million tonnes cement grinding unit at Jamul in Chhattisgarh during the quarter. On 24 October 2016, ACC commissioned a 1.35 million tonnes cement grinding unit at Sindri in Jharkhand, completing the new integrated project with its clinkering line of 2.79 million tonnes and grinding unit of 1.1 million tonnes at Jamul in Chhattisgarh. The new units will strengthen the company's market presence especially in the eastern region.On 16 November 2016, ACC announced that one of its promoters Holderind Investments Limited (HIL) has purchased 78.7 lakh shares constituting 4.19% of the equity shares of the company through open market purchases. Post the transaction, HIL's stake in ACC increased to 4.48% from 0.29% and the total promoter holding company increased to 54.53% from 50.34%. HIL is a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim (LH), the ultimate holding company and part of the promoter group of ACC. On 10 March 2017, ACC announced that it has sold its entire shareholding comprising 2.36 crore equity shares of Shiva Cement Limited representing 12.13% of the total share capital of Shiva Cement Limited to JSW Cement Limited in an off market transaction for a total consideration of Rs 38.66 crore. The shares were sold at price of Rs 16.35 per share. Earlier, ACC and JSW Cement had entered into a Share Purchase Agreement on 15 February 2017 for the sale of Shiva Cement shares. On 26 February 2018, ACC announced that on the basis of a comprehensive evaluation carried out by a Special Committee of Directors and the Board of Directors of the company, the Board decided not to proceed with a merger of the company and Ambuja Cements (ACL) - the promoter and the holding company of ACC. ACC said in a statement that there are certain constraints in implementing merger between the company and ACC at present. However, merger with ACL remains the ultimate objective, ACC said. In the meanwhile, the Board has approved an arrangement with ACL for mutual purchase and sale of materials and services with the intention to maximize synergies between the companies and to unlock value for the shareholders of both the companies. Earlier, on 5 May 2017, ACC had announced the formation of Special Committee of Directors to explore the possibility of a merger between the company and ACL with a view to combine the strengths of both businesses so as to benefit all stakeholders.During the year 2018, RMX business expanded its footprint by adding 18 new Plants. These Plants are located in high contribution and high EBITDA margin markets across the country. With this addition, the nationwide network of RMX Plants comprises of 75 state-of-the-art Plants.The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) vide its judgment dated 25th July 2018, has dismissed the appeal of the Company upholding the levy of penalty of Rs1147.59 crore as imposed by the Competition Commission of India vide its Order dated 31st August 2016. The NCLAT initially vide its Order dated 7th November 2016 had stayed the operation of the CCI's Order subject to deposit of 10% of the penalty amount. The Company has preferred an appeal before the Hon'ble Supreme Court against the above Order of NCLAT. The Hon'ble Supreme Court vide its Order dated 5th October 2018, has admitted the Company's civil appeal and ordered for continuance of the interim orders passed by NCLAT towards stay on the demand subject to deposit of 10% of the penalty amount. The matter is still subjudice.