Ramco Cements Ltd. reported a 19% year-on-year increase in standalone net profit at ₹387 crore for the December quarter. Revenue from operations rose to ₹2,101 crore from ₹1,977 crore a year ago, aided by higher volumes and a stronger contribution from the construction chemicals segment.
Net revenue included ₹90 crore from construction chemicals, up from ₹52 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Cement sales volume increased to 4.43 million tonnes from 4.28 million tonnes, while construction chemicals volumes surged to 1.54 lakh tonnes from 0.86 lakh tonnes. Cement capacity utilisation stood at 73%, compared with 75% a year ago.
Raw material cost per tonne rose 4% year-on-year to ₹1,012 from ₹969, largely due to the levy of mineral-bearing land tax (MBLT) of ₹160 per tonne of limestone in Tamil Nadu with effect from April 2025. This resulted in an additional variable cost impact of ₹47 crore during the quarter. Tamil Nadu is currently the only state imposing such a levy, and the company, along with other cement manufacturers, has made representations to the State government seeking a reduction.
Power and fuel cost per tonne of cement increased to ₹1,088 in Q3 from ₹1,061 a year ago. The share of green energy in total power consumption rose by 8 percentage points to 47%, supported by record wind power generation, helping to partially offset the rise in energy costs. All green power assets are fully owned by the company or its wholly owned subsidiaries, with no dependence on group captive or third-party arrangements.
During the quarter, the company recorded a profit of ₹506 crore from the sale of land. However, it also incurred an exceptional expense of ₹27 crore towards past service costs for gratuity and compensated absences due to the notification of new labour codes. Net exceptional items for Q3FY26 stood at ₹479 crore, compared with ₹329 crore in the year-ago period.
Ramco Cements plans to raise its cement capacity to 31 million tonnes per annum by March 2027 through de-bottlenecking initiatives and a brownfield expansion with a second line at Kolimigundla, along with 15 MW of waste heat recovery systems. For its proposed greenfield project in Karnataka, the company has acquired 59% of mining land and 13% of factory land.
At its Ariyalur plant in Tamil Nadu, de-bottlenecking of cement grinding systems in Lines 1 and 2 has increased combined grinding capacity from 3.5 MTPA to 5.5 MTPA. Similar de-bottlenecking activities are underway at plants in Ramasamy Raja Nagar, Tamil Nadu, and Jayanthipuram, Andhra Pradesh.
RCL incurred capital expenditure of ₹222 crore, including maintenance capex. Total capex for FY26 is now estimated at ₹1,100 crore, revised down from the earlier estimate of ₹1,200 crore.
As of December 2025, net debt declined to ₹4,145 crore from ₹4,481 crore at the end of March 2025. The cost of debt also eased to 7.10% from 7.89% in the year-ago quarter.