§1What this business is

Fly ash from thermal power plants is mixed with lime/cement and sand and pressed into bricks. Builders, contractors and government works (PWD, housing schemes) are the big buyers. No kiln is needed — the bricks harden through curing.

§2Is it right for you?

Who it is for

Landowners within 100 km of a thermal plant who have a network for government or builder supply.

Who it is not for

Someone who wants quick profit from small capital — margins are low and you need high volume.

Advantages

  • Government construction promotes fly ash products
  • No kiln, less smoke — fewer pollution hassles
  • Uniform brick size and strength
  • Raw material is cheap near a thermal plant

Drawbacks

  • Very thin margin (~2–4% PAT in the report)
  • Far from a thermal plant, fly ash freight kills the margin
  • Villagers still ask for red bricks
  • Needs a big machine and a lot of land

Skills you need

  • Mix ratio and curing
  • Machine maintenance
  • Government tenders / contractor network
  • Logistics

Why difficulty 3/5: Big machine, heavy logistics and thin margins — volume must be managed well.

§3Market

Who buys

  • People building houses and commercial buildings
  • Builders and contractors
  • Government construction works

How it sells

  • Direct supply to building sites
  • Building-material dealers
  • Contractors

Good to know

  • The unit should be near a coal-fired power plant, because fly ash is the main input.
  • Raw material and consumables are the largest cost: ₹69.58 lakh of ₹90.77 lakh cost of production in year 1 of the UP report.

§4Raw material & machinery

  • Fly ashfine powder collected by electrostatic precipitators or bag filters at coal-fired power plants

From: UP MSME 1-Connect (Govt of UP, RAMP) – Project Report: Fly Ash Bricks (2024)

Suppliers in Building Business Bazaar

DRILING DYNAMICS AND TESTING LABORATORY LLP · Sri Vijaya Puram →MATERIAL TESTING LABORATORY LLP · New Delhi →DELHI TEST HOUSE · Delhi →MANGLAM GEOTECH SERVICES · Mapusa →SHREEJI MATERIALS TESTING LABORATORY LLP · Bhavnagar →HTH LABORATORIES PRIVATE LIMITED · Panipat →ALPHA TEST HOUSE PRIVATE LIMITED · Bahadurgarh →STERLING TEST AND RESEARCH CENTRE LLP · Faridabad →REVOLUTIONSIX ENGINEERING SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED · Bilaspur →ETL TEST HOUSE PRIVATE LIMITED · Jammu →SUN TECH · Ranchi →OMRESEARCH & TESTING LABORATORY PRIVATE LIMITED · Ranchi →

In our raw material database

Fly ash (pulverised fuel ash) →

§5Licences & registration

  1. Udyam
  2. GST
  3. UPPCB consent
  4. BIS IS 12894 (fly ash lime bricks) — for tenders
  5. Fly ash allotment letter from the thermal plant

We can do this registration for you

§6Schemes & subsidies

₹31–36 L manufacturing project: within the PMEGP limit; collateral-free under CGTMSE; MUDRA will cover only a part, up to ₹20 L; Stand-Up India for SC/ST/women.

§7Money

How the investment is worked out: Report has no single cost line. Min = funds at construction: promoter capital ₹9.80 L + term loan ₹21.50 L (gross block ₹30.48 L). Max adds the ₹5.00 L working-capital loan drawn in year 1. Summed from the report's balance sheet / fund-flow.

Working capital: Working capital loan ₹5 L; raw material costs ₹69.58 L a year — the fly ash supply must be assured.

Report 2024.

How to prepare a loan file

§8Export potential

Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export

6810.11Building blocks and bricks of cement, concrete or artificial stone

Export council / board: CAPEXIL

  • Fly ash bricks are a local product; exports are rare.
  • Confirm the 8-digit ITC(HS) line for your brick mix with DGFT or your customs broker.

§9Risks — where people fail

  • Fly ash supply/transport cost
  • Thin margins
  • Customer acceptance in rural markets
  • Machine breakdown

§1030 / 60 / 90-day plan

A general plan that applies to any business. A plan for this business will be added after research.

  1. Days 1–30: Visit a working fly ash bricks unit unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
  2. Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (Udyam, GST), a project report (DPR), and the scheme or loan file.
  3. Days 61–90: Space and machines, trial production, and first deliveries to 10 customers.

§11Who to connect with

Not verified yet

Associations, clusters and training institutes — the directory is being built. Connect

§12Watch

There is no episode on this business yet. Shows are coming soon on the Podcast page.

Want to start Fly Ash Bricks Unit?

DPR, loan file or registration — ask us on WhatsApp.

Get a DPR / loan file made

Sources

  1. UP MSME 1-Connect (Govt of UP, RAMP) – Project Report: Fly Ash Bricks (2024)

Data review: 6 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Report it. For information only — not legal or financial advice.