The Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA) has announced key appointments of Neeraj Akhoury as President and Parth Jindal as the Vice President, of the association, in an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on July 14, 2023. 

Akhoury is leading Shree Cement Ltd. as Managing Director, and Jindal is serving as Managing Director of JSW Cement Ltd. 

After K C Jhanwar, Managing Director of UltraTech Cement Limited, stepped down from the post, Akhoury was elected as President. In his new role, he brings with him more than 30 years of extensive experience in the steel and cement industries, acquired through various leadership positions in India and global markets.

Expressing enthusiasm for his appointment he stated, “I express my sincere thanks to all the CMA Members for reposing their confidence in me. I assure my firm commitment towards continuing to build a substantive agenda of dialogue with the Government of India. As a future direction, the Indian Cement Industry would like to reiterate its commitment to being India’s partner in nation-building for creating business value chains, supporting infrastructure growth and a sustainability agenda, with an emphasis on decarbonisation, aligned to India’s priorities and working in close collaboration with policy planners, ministries and stakeholders. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Government of India for constantly engaging with our Industry during the critical time of COVID and taking forward productive dialogue with the Cement Industry through CMA. While the Indian Cement Industry is robust, CMA reaffirms its commitment to the nation and will make all efforts to further improve the image and reputation of the Indian Cement industry.”

On the other hand, Jindal is the youngest Vice President ever elected for CMA. The association notified his appointment as bringing fresh energy and a new perspective to the leadership team, which will help address critical challenges in the Indian cement industry. Additionally, Jindal is expected to contribute new ideas to support the decarbonisation agenda and the digital transformation of the Indian cement sector. 

Jindal conveyed, “I thank the CMA Members for electing me as the Vice President of CMA. India’s cement sector plays a critical role in the growth and economic development of our nation. I reiterate CMA’s commitment to working closely with the Indian Government in being a significant partner in pursuing the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat. This places a great responsibility on all of us to collectively follow various strategies to reduce carbon emissions across our business operations.

I look forward to working with Neeraj in furthering CMA’s decarbonisation agenda as we continue to build a pipeline of strategically relevant solutions in this direction. I have full confidence in the Indian Cement Industry’s practices associated with the circular economy, WHRS, alternative fuels etc. Moreover, as India takes a generational leap in becoming a digitally connected economy, it becomes important for us to adapt to the new digital way of doing business and connecting with all our stakeholders.”