While products like waterproofing compounds and solutions are checked out by home owners and repair workers alike, knowledge of the benefits of sophisticated Construction Chemicals products by the booming construction industry still needs to seep in, as Varsha Trehan finds out.

Waterproofing, fast setting concrete admixture, restoration products, and flooring sealants - the terms fly around - familiar to the expert on one hand and seemingly just fancy cost additions to the rest of the construction industry. Broadly categorized as Construction Chemicals, they comprise a number of different products such as cement admixtures, cold-applied products, hot-applied products, membranes, acrylic & epoxy resins, and adhesives and sealants. While they sound like the hi-fi stuff to the uninitiated, these are now a part of our regular walls, floors and roofs.

Construction Industry Bond

Growth of the sector is given, by virtue of the symbiotic relation with the construction industry in India. Construction Chemicals is a sector benefiting from the use and access to foreign industry and the entry of foreign companies. "Today, several projects funded by multilateral agencies like the ADB and World Bank have made the use of good quality construction chemicals mandatory. The market size of the construction chemicals is between Rs.1,500-2,000 crore in India" says Mr Ramesh Kommajosyula, Managing Director, Varshitha Concrete Technologies. "The entry of foreign construction companies and use of foreign technology in the construction business has increased the growth rate of Indian construction chemicals industry. The significance of construction activities in the growth of economy of the country is evident from the government initiatives to support the infrastructure development by large scale investments in both public and private development projects. This has indirectly benefited the Chemical Construction industry as growth in infrastructure directly drives the demand for construction chemicals. The present market size of the construction chemicals industry in India is about Rs.1,600 crore and is rapidly growing at the rate of around 20%. The organized players control about 70% of the market share," says Ms Anasuya Gupta, Chairperson & Managing Director, CICO Technologies.