Rising fuel costs and related inflationary impacts reduced profits. "We were able to mitigate part of this impact through our efficiency project 'Parvat'. The cost reduction journey will be further accelerated with the commissioning of waste heat recovery projects in Jamul, Kymore and Ametha plants taking the share of green power to 15 per cent," said Sridhar Balakrishnan, managing director and CEO of ACC Ltd (Holcim Group). Power costs are just one of the inflationary pressures affecting margins. UltraTech Cement (Aditya Birla group) reported lower labour availability in May 2022. Ramco Cements pointed towards rising raw material costs, transport and handling charges as well as power and fuel cost rises as contributory factors to its 65 per cent hike in total expenses for the 1Q22. Ramco Cements said that power and fuel prices have increased by 138 per cent to INR5.244bn, which in turn has exacerbated logistics costs.