A first for me: An ad from a cement company with prices: JKCement in Economic Times dated 17 September 2025.
The ad announces the new prices following reduction in GST rates on cement and construction materials from 28% to 18% with effect from 22 September 2025.
I found a couple of interesting things about cement pricing in this ad.
1. Sub inflation price increase
In my first job in 1985, I used to sell air pollution control equipment to the cement industry. I remember that a 50 kg bag of cement used to cost INR 50.
Let’s take the entry level product in the above ad: JK Super PPC (PP Bag) 50 kg. Its price is as follows:
Existing MRP: INR 510.
New MRP: INR 465.
The CAGR from then to now works out to:
Existing MRP: 510/50 i.e. 10.2X in 40 years = 5.97% ~ 6%.
New MRP: 465/50 i.e. 9.3X in 40 years = 5.73% ~ 5.75%.
Both figures are lower than the average inflation rate in India during the 40 year period between 1985 and 2025.
Takeaway: Growing capacity and rising competition has helped keep cement prices in check below inflation rate. Exhibit A: Capitalism works!
2. White cement deep discount
There’s only type of white cement product in this ad: WhiteMaxM (White Cement). The four SKUs in the price table refer to different pack sizes – from 1 kg through to 50 kg – of the same product. Let’s have a look at their New MRPs.
New MRP 1 kg: INR 68.
New MRP 50 kg: INR 1380.
50 bags of 1 kg each should cost 68 x 50 = INR 3400.
As against that, a single bag of 50 kg costs only INR 1380.
That works out to a discount of (3400-1380)/3400*100% = 59.41% ~ 60%.
The corresponding discount on the Existing MRP is also 60%, being (75*50-1500)/(75*50)*100%.
Takeaway: White cement has a huge quantity discount. In fact, this is the highest quantity discount that I’ve ever come across in any consumer product category at the end consumer level.