A. India doesn’t display cyclicality in demand, but in prices. The sheer amount of construction that keeps on happening in country aids demand. The demand can however be of Retail or Infra. If there is more retail demand, obviously prices go up. If there is no demand , people fill gap by selling to Infra Players but that leads to lower realisation. Also it is lot to do with regions you are operating in. Ramco operates in South , where demand hasn’t picked up in years. Ramco guys however infiltrated Eastern India and started selling there. They were cost efficient and hence able to transport so far off and still sell at marginal profit. Moreover they were visionary enough to do branding in East India and create a demand for their product
B. Capacity addition is done for twin purposes. If we allow competitors to gain volume share, they will sooner or later edge you out on shelves. There is sheer power that comes with volumes in this game. Also you forecast demand 5-7 years down the line and then add capacity. Cement cos as it is can not operate at full capacity due to unplanned maintenance shutdowns, rains etc. Any co doing 90% capacity utilisation is good.
One should also check if management ps report their capacity correctly. Do they remove planned shutdown days (typically 20-30 days) while calculating capacity. If not then you over report the capacity by 10% and what looks like 75% is actually 85%
C. People keep inventing material that can disrupt cement, but point is how many items will be cheaper than 7-8 Rs a kg and exhibit similar strength and have mass adoption.
Even in Western markets there has been new products which use some portion of cement with a combination of other materials , but most of these are used for Non Structural uses only.
Also cement has shown environmental acceptance. Few other materials may not be good in say Heat or Cold. So They are not all weather proof,