Kathmandu, June 2

At a time when the performance of majority of government-owned industries has remained unsatisfactory for several years, two state-owned cement companies — Udaypur Cement Industry and Hetauda Cement Industry — have set new records this year in terms of profit making and production.

While the Udaypur Cement Industry has made profit for the first time in the last two decades this year, Hetauda Cement Industry has surpassed its production target after over 30 years in the fiscal 2016-17.

According to officials of the Ministry of Industry (MoI), the Udaypur Cement Industry has booked net profit of more than Rs 160 million in the first 10 months of the ongoing fiscal year.

“It is a matter of pride for us that Udaypur Cement Industry has now turned the corner, although it is also a challenge for both the government and Udaypur Cement Industry to sustain this profit in the years to come,” Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi said.

Udaypur Cement Industry has been selling ‘Gaida Cement’ brand of cement in the domestic market.

Surendra Poudel, the general manager of Udaypur Cement Industry, said that the company was able to end its loss-making streak this year due to proper staff management and dedication of its staffers.

“The company’s success this year has encouraged the entire management. We are committed to sustain this achievement,” Poudel said.

Poudel also informed that the company would book net profit of almost Rs 250 million within the end of this fiscal year. According to him, Udaypur Cement Industry produced almost 1.5 million sacks of cement in the first 10 months of 2016-17 against 1.3 million sacks of cement produced during the last fiscal year.

Similarly, Hetauda Cement Industry, which has been producing ‘Shakti’ brand of cement, has crossed production target of cement for the first time in 33 years.

Prem Shankar Singh, general manager of Hetauda Cement Industry, informed that the company has already met this year’s production target of 120,000 metric tonnes of clinker and cement within the first 10 months of the ongoing fiscal.

“In the past, we used to struggle to meet even 70 per cent of the production target. This year, our production has exceeded the target two months ahead of the end of fiscal year and we have recorded almost Rs 230 million in net profit,” Singh informed.

After these cement industries started generating profits, the MoI has also recently announced it would contribute Rs 1.5 per sack of the profit made by Hetauda Cement Industry and Udaypur Cement Industry to the Children Welfare Fund. The fund has been set up with an aim to make the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of domestic industries more effective and accessible to needy sections of the society.