UltraTech Cement announced that the company has commenced mining of coal from its Bicharpur Coal mines situated in Madhya Pradesh. This mine was procured in the coal block auctions in the year 2015. The mines have extractable reserves of 29 MMT.

The coal extracted from the mines will be used for the company's internal consumption and will to some extent reduce its dependence on coal purchases.

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UltraTech Cement has won Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (FICCI) Indian Circular Economy Award (ICEA), 2021. UltraTech has been declared as a joint winner in the Large Enterprise category. As a joint winner in the Large Enterprise category, the award appreciates UltraTech's efforts to accelerate its business towards a circular model and identifies the Company as most innovative and impactful in its practices.

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The outlook on the foreign-currency IDR is 'negative' and that on the local-currency IDR is 'stable'.

Fitch has also affirmed UltraTech's $400 million 2.80% senior unsecured notes due 2031 at 'BBB-'.

The ratings agency said that UltraTech Cement's (UTCL's) ratings reflect its position as the third-largest cement producer globally, excluding China, and the largest in India, a market with healthy long-term growth prospects. The company has strong branding and cost-efficient operations that underpin its competitive position.

In Fitch's view, these helped UTCL's profitability to remain above the industry average and position it well to cope with the industry's inherent cyclicality despite weaker geographic diversification than larger global peers.

The 'negative' outlook on UTCL's foreign-currency IDR reflects Fitch's 'negative' outlook on India's long-term foreign- and local-currency IDRs.

UTCL's foreign-currency IDR is not directly constrained by India's sovereign rating but cannot exceed the country ceiling of 'BBB-', which reflects the transfer and convertibility risks associated with foreign-currency obligations.

Should the sovereign IDRs be downgraded to 'BB+', the country ceiling may also be revised lower in tandem, which would constrain UTCL's foreign-currency IDR to 'BB+'.

The 'stable' outlook on the local-currency IDR underscores UTCL's robust profitability despite the impact of coronavirus pandemic on cement demand in the financial year ended 31 March 2021 (FY21).

UTCL also took a prudent approach to growth, enabling significant debt reduction. This should support comfortable leverage headroom despite higher expansion capex and dividend payouts, and Fitch's expectation of moderation in margins after FY21.

UltraTech Cement, part of the Aditya Birla Group, is the third-largest cement producer outside China, and the largest in India by installed capacity.

The company's consolidated net profit rose 0.38% to Rs 1,314 crore on 14.41% increase in net sales to Rs 11,743 crore in Q2 September 2021 over Q2 September 2020.

The scrip shed 0.15% to currently trade at Rs 7638.35 on the BSE.

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UltraTech Cement announced its commitment to the GCCA 2050 Cement and Concrete Industry Roadmap for Net Zero Concrete.

This commitment to produce carbon neutral concrete by 2050 is a collective commitment of the world's leading cement and concrete companies to fully contribute to building the sustainable world of tomorrow. The Roadmap also includes a sectoral commitment to cut CO2emissions by a further 25 per cent by 2030.

UltraTech has made this commitment as a founding member of Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA). UltraTech is among forty of the world's leading cement and concrete manufacturers to affirm their commitment to net zero concrete by 2050 and agree to an ambitious intermediate goal of preventing 5 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030. The GCCA has published a detailed 'Concrete Future' roadmap which sets out the path that the industry will follow to fully decarbonize by 2050, a target aligned with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

The 'Concrete Future' roadmap is built around a seven-point plan that relies on ambitious yet achievable actions to reduce the amount of CO2 intensive clinker in cement, significantly reduce fossil fuel use in manufacturing, and accelerate innovation in products, process efficiency and breakthrough technologies including carbon capture.

This move by the members of the GCCA marks the biggest global commitment by an industry to net zero so far - bringing together companies from the Americas, Africa, Asia (including India and China), and Europe. GCCA members account for 80 per cent of the global cement industry volume outside of China, and also include several large Chinese manufacturers

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