Oil price rise | Next 15 days crucial for cement industry, says Shree Digvijay Cement's Anil Singhvi

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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The recent spike in oil prices due to the Ukraine conflict may put pressure on the cement industry's operational costs, a top company executive has said.

Anil Singhvi, chairman, Shree Digvijay Cement, and C Vijayakumar, CEO & MD, HCL Tech, spoke with CNBC-TV18 on the stock market price action, and whether operating expenditures have increased due to supply chain concerns over the Russia-Ukraine war.

Singhvi pointed out that the rise in oil prices might take a toll on the industry's operational costs.

Stressing that demand has been lower than expectations, Singhvi said his company is not much concerned now as it has inventories. He also added that it would be a difficult Q4 for the industry as prices have been stable when costs have increased.

"Not concerned about elevated prices at the moment because cement sector is a long-term play. Most of us carry inventory because things may go haywire anytime. This quarter will be slightly difficult because demand has been low. Prices have been stable when costs have increased. The markets today are far more nervous than the cement industry," he said.

Commenting on the risk of rising input costs impacting the earnings of companies, Singhvi said the next few weeks will be testing time for the cement industry. He also said an assessment could be done on how costs are impacting their prices after a fortnight.

"We have to wait for more than 15 days to calculate how costs are increasing. We have to assess whether rising prices can be passed or not. Crude at $130 is definitely not good. These energy shocks come once in 15 years in some forms. We have to look at when the war is going to stop. This is an abnormal time. Next 15 days are crucial," Singhvi observed.

When asked whether Indian exports which stood at $180 billion in the current year could rise to $300 billion in five years, Vijayakumar of HCL Tech said, "Given the buoyancy we are seeing, in the next five years potentially we would reach that. We are already seeing that kind of momentum across sectors and for most of the industries."

On concerns about employee costs for IT companies, he said, "It is difficult to retain good talent and continue to upskill them to get better quality of work from them. The focus has been to acquire talent in the industry, whether it is from campuses, or from multiple locations across the globe. The ability to adapt to newer technologies is much faster."