Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. (GACL) was established in 1982 and is a major cement producer in the country. It is a professionally run, family owned business. The company has grown to reach revenues of Rs. 1,583 crores in 2001–02. It has units in Gujarat (Kodinar), Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan and West Bengal with the head office in Mumbai. Since its inception, GACL has followed a corporate philosophy of ‘sustainable development’ and has taken conscious decisions to reflect this commitment.

The plant at Ambujanagar near Kodinar (45 kms from Veraval town) in Gujarat is a good example of this commitment. GACL has been able to achieve a pollution free environment at its plant site by using state-of-art pollution control equipment like Glass Bag Houses and Electrostatic precipitators, to prevent dust emissions which are routinely associated with cement plants. The company operates captive limestone mines around Kodinar for its entire production requirement. It uses eco-friendly machines called Surface Miners which require no blasting. Mined areas are reclaimed through afforestation, developing orchards, pasturelands, artificial lakes, water harvesting structures, et cetera in them.

GACL uses a dry process of cement manufacturing which neither consumes water nor generates any industrial effluents from the processing plant. Water is required only for cooling purposes. The water needed for this purpose is made available by recycling domestic waste and sewage water from its colony through a Sewage Water Reclamation Plant with a capacity to treat 15 lakh litres per day. The treated water is used for various purposes such as cooling of process equipment, road dust suppression, and maintaining the gardens and trees on the campus.