India Cements Employees Assured of Job Security After UltraTech Takeover

Chennai, Jul 29 (PTI) India Cements Vice Chairman and MD N Srinivasan has assured employees that it would be business as usual for them despite the change of ownership to UltraTech.

Allaying fears to the employees, he said, "The change to UltraTech from India Cements does not mean a change in your career. Because I have been personally assured, I just spoke to the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group (Kumar Mangalam Birla) and he said that he will follow the same policy that we have followed so far and there will be space for everybody and good workers will be rewarded".

"No need for anybody in India Cements to feel insecure or threatened. The future is as solid as when I was head of the plant. You constitute the core of the cement business. You must work with full vigour, and that everything will be the same as before. The future is good," he added.

Aditya Birla Group flagship company UltraTech Cement on Sunday said it will acquire a 32.72 per cent stake in India Cements from promoters and their associates for Rs 3,954 crore to expand its footprint in the highly competitive and fast-growing Southern cement market.

UltraTech has also announced a Rs 3,142.35 crore open offer to acquire another 26 per cent of India Cements Ltd from its shareholders.

"This morning as I greet all of you, I am going to leave India Cements. The reason is that our competitors thought they could crush us with lower prices. With a slightly higher cost of production, we had taken all steps to reduce our costs," Srinivasan said while addressing about 300-odd employees of the city-based cement maker.

Recalling how the founder of India Cements SNN Sankaralinga Iyer and his late father T S Narayanaswami stumbled upon a limestone after which the house of Iyer became the office of India Cements also, Srinivasan said the early part of cement was into exploration and in finding places.