Company: ACC
Founded by: Framroze Edulji Dinshaw
ACC Limited (also formerly known as Associated Cement Companies Ltd.) was founded by Framroze Edulji Dinshaw along with a group of other visionary entrepreneurs of India in the year 1936. The company was the result of an amalgamation of ten cement companies of pre-independent India when the respective owners and stakeholders decided to pool their individual resources to create a premier force in the country’s then nascent cement industry.
Currently, ACC Limited is the one of the biggest cement manufacturers in India earning over 1.6 billion dollars yearly revenue. It has over 17 cement factories and 75 concrete mixing plants and employs over 6,700 people from all over the world. In 2005, the company became a part of the Switzerland-based Holcim Group which in turn has merged with Lafarge Cement to form LafargeHolcim and is considered a leader of the world’s building materials industry.
How it all Started
E. Dinshaw was the second son of the famed industrialist and philanthropist, Seth Edulji Dinshaw and carried the Dinshaw family name and interest in pre-partition India to new heights. After his father’s death in 1914, F. E. Dinshaw inherited the family’s substantial property and business interest in Mumbai (then Bombay) while his elder brother got the Karachi part of his eminent father’s empire.
He was a lawyer by profession and expanded his father’s landholdings in the city – the F. E. Dinshaw Trust was the largest private landholding trust in Mumbai as of 2002.
In 1936, he played a key part in bringing together ten cement companies of India which included prominent business group like Tata, Khatau, Killick Nixon and F. E. Dinshaw Group (his own company) to form one of the first mergers in the Indian business scenario. The resulting corporation was named Associated Cement Companies Ltd. and the credit of its formation as often given to F. E. Dinshaw alone.
He passed away in 1936, the same year but months before his dream was finally realized.
The incorporation of the company formally happened on 1st August, 1936 and the first board meeting was held in Esplanade House, Mumbai on 30th November in the same year. In 1937, the tenth and last company, Dewarkhand Cement Company was incorporated in the association and 1939 saw the construction of a new Head Office building started and was aptly named Cement House.
The Road to Success
At the time of formation of Associated Cement Companies Ltd. the construction industry in India was almost non-existent. As the country was ruled by the British, most of the building works were undertaken by foreign companies and even though they used local resources and labor, there was almost no recognition for their contribution.
The pooling of resources by the ten significant industrial houses of the country and creation of a major cement company began to change the scenario.
The company was the result of tireless efforts of F. E. Dinshaw and other entrepreneurs with similar vision and nationalist pride in the formation of an indigenous construction company of the country. After independence, the company started to develop at a rapid pace and established its first entirely Indian cement manufacturing plant at Chaibasa, Bihar in 1947. The 1950s saw increased pace of manufacturing process and a variety of raw materials were used in the process.
One prominent example was the usage of calcium carbonate sludge waste from Sindri Fertilizer Factory as a raw material in Sindri Cement Works, a cement production unit of ACC.
This decade also saw the company focusing in providing technical training (institute established at Kymore, Madhya Pradesh) and village welfare (scheme launched in 1952). The 1960s saw the diversification of the company and it started producing multiple products like Slag Cement and Oilwell Cement along with waterproofing additives and alumina binders. ACC’s Central Research Center was established at Thane, Mumbai in 1965 and the decade saw computers being used for data processing and management in the company.
The 1970s decade was an important milestone in the illustrious history of the company. The takeover of The Cement Marketing Company of India was completed in 1973. The company also received the 1st ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) national award for the year 1977 for its contribution to agricultural and rural development programs.
ACC goes international with the receipt of a contract for development and management of a 1-million tone capacity cement manufacturing unit in Saudi Arabia. In 1980s the company reduces India’s dependence on imported cement by producing and supplying special type of oil well cement to ONGC in 1984.
Its specially developed cement able to withstand sub-zero temperatures was used in the Indian expedition to Antarctica. The last decade of the 1900s saw further specialization, acquisition of accolades and mergers resulting in consolidation of its status as the premier cement manufacturing of the company.
The sale of Tata Group’s stakes to Ambuja Cement Holdings Ltd. also happened during this period. ACC’s first commercial manufacturing of ready mixed concrete also started during this period. The year 2005 was the year of acquisition of majority stake in the company by Holcim, Switzerland by an open offer to ACC shareholders through its holding company, Holdcem Cement Pvt. Ltd.
The ready-mixed concrete business was consolidated under a separate head named ACC Concrete Ltd. ACC Cement was also honored by the National Stock Exchange of India for being an unbroken part of its Nifty 50 Index since its inception twenty-five years ago.
Marketing Strategies
ACC Ltd. has always been the pioneer in the cement industry of India since its formation in 1936. With the association of many business stalwarts of the country, the company has always benefitted and progressed to new heights in the construction materials sector. In 2015, ACC was ranked 12th among the top Indian companies and 1st in the cement sector according to a leading media survey.
- The company has rich experience of eight decades in the sector to establish its business all over the country
- It has extensive reach with over 10,000 retail outlets and penetration in the rural areas of India
- ACC has products to offer in several categories of cement like Portland cement, Premium cement, Ready Mixed Concrete and bulk consumption cement
- The company has several strategic tie-ups with government organizations and building contractors
- It is actively involved in many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects thus creating brand credibility and trustworthiness among its beneficiaries and customers
Conclusion
ACC is one of the premier cement manufacturing companies in India and its position is further strengthened with its association with LafargeHolcim Group, the world leader in building material industry. The company has acquired more than enough market credibility and goodwill through the quality of its products, services and CSR activities to sustain its next phase of growth in the rapidly evolving construction materials market.
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