GST-A Journey, not destinationGST has scored a few goals – subsuming multiple taxes and a common rate structure - over the last one year. But for achieving simplification and reaping its full efficiency, it has a long way to go.“GST rate of 18 on cement would have driven up retail demand” Maneesh Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer, Nuvoco Vistas Corp Ltd“Industry is saving considerably on storage & transportation cost” Ashish K Nainan, Research Analyst –Industry Research, CARE Ratings“Eventually we all got on board & it is functioning very smoothly” Sanjay Ladiwala, The Tandur & Shahabad Stone Co., Cement Dealers“Except for changing rates, there is no problem with GST by now” Nikesh Parekh, Span Cements, Cement DistributorsFEATURE: BAGGINGThe next-gen cement packing Cement is a product that is consumed in large volumes next to only food grains. Therefore packaging of cement becomes extremely important.“Entire packing line is changing towards full automation” Nitin Vyas, Managing Director & CEO, BEUMER India.INTERVIEWCertainty of growth though boom still not in sight Makarand Marathe, Director, Cement Division, Thyssenkrupp Industries India tkIIICR CONCRETEOptimisation of Concrete Cost for Metro Projects An attempt is made to develop a systematic approach for estimating the quantity of concrete and optimisation of concrete cost based on a case study.CASE STUDYEnhancing productivity Use of synthetic bearing lubricant helps increase oil drain interval by more than 2.5 times, thereby resulting in savings of over 27,677kiln.