Next time you go to a dealership of  Ramco Cements , you will be in for a little surprise. The staff may throw a barrage of questions at you about the nature of construction, exact use of the cement and so on.

This is new as cement has always been sold as a commodity distinguished by corporate brands. Though there were usage-specific cements such as salt-resistant cement for oil wells or railway sleeper cement for industrial use, usage of specific brands at the retail level barely existed.

Ramco Cements, one of the leading cement manufacturer in the country, is offering customised cement solutions calibrated to application needs. “What is good for the individual house need not be good for a high-rise. The characteristics of cement should be different for an atomic power station or dam construction, which require cement with low heat of hydration. Hence, we have been focusing on selling the right cement based on the construction type,” AV Dharmakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Ramco Cements, told BusinessLine.

The ₹5,175-crore company

has been training its dealers and staff through workshops. Normally, consumers just make a simple order for cement — an OPC (ordinary Portland cement) grade or a PPC (Portland Pozzolana cement ) grade cement. But, now the staff at dealerships ask the buyers about the type of works — pillars, plastering, interior or exterior construction before recommending the right brand.

Ramco Cement uses its MACE (Masons, Architects, Contractors & Engineers) initiative, which offers on-the-ground guidance on correct construction practices and free mobile technical services, for this. A cross-section of dealers BusinessLine spoke to reported good acceptance of these brands despite their premium price. People, they said, do not mind spending a little more as long as the product offers a clear value.

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