Magicrete: Building India's Sustainable Future with AAC Blocks and 3D Precast Technology
In a country aiming to grow from a $3 trillion to a $10 trillion economy, manufacturing isn't just an option—it's a necessity. While many startups flock to the digital realm, Sidharth Bansal and his brother Sourabh Bansal have chosen the "hard" path of building materials. As the Co-founder of Magicrete, Sidharth is leading a revolution in India's ₹60,000 crore Walling industry. By replacing traditional, polluting clay bricks with sustainable AAC (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) blocks and pioneering 3D Precast housing, Magicrete is proving that homes can be built better, faster, and cheaper while saving the planet's precious topsoil.
An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Lucknow, Sidharth's journey took him from the high-stakes world of McKinsey and private equity at Lighthouse back to his family's manufacturing roots. Since joining his brother full-time in 2012, he has helped scale Magicrete from a ₹10 crore startup to a powerhouse generating over ₹1 crore in turnover every single day. For Bansal, the mission is clear: if India is to scale its infrastructure three-fold, it must do so through high-tech manufacturing, not just services.
The Inefficiency of the Clay Brick
India's construction has long been dominated by one lakh fragmented, unorganized brick kilns. These kilns destroy around 60,000 acres of agricultural topsoil every year and consume four times more energy than sustainable alternatives. Magicrete's AAC blocks use fly ash (an industrial waste) as raw material, saving land and reducing energy consumption by 75%.
Breaking the "Traditional" Tendency: Why AAC?
When Magicrete started in 2009, the Indian market was resistant to change. People had been using bricks for thousands of years. Sidharth and his team realized they had to win on two fronts: Availability and Awareness. They built a massive network of 1,000+ distributors to ensure their product was as available as the local brick, even in Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns.
Their awareness campaign was equally bold. Their first pitch to customers was: "Your Walling can be free." Because AAC blocks are one-third the weight of bricks, the dead load of a building reduces drastically. This leads to massive savings in cement and steel in the foundation—savings that often exceed the total cost of the AAC blocks themselves. This "Volume is Free" value proposition helped Magicrete create a 10% dent in a market that had remained unchanged for generations.
"People like us who have access to knowledge and capital really need to scale up manufacturing. India cannot grow three times by only doing services; we require a huge manufacturing base. We chose an industry that was huge so that even after 14 years, we still feel there is room to grow."
Implementing 3D Precast: The "Lego" of Housing
Innovation at Magicrete isn't limited to blocks. They recently made headlines by being shortlisted in the top six out of 100 companies for a project under the Ministry of Urban Housing. Using 3D Precast technology, they are completing 1,008 homes in Ranchi in record time.
"The whole house is broken down into elements—walls, pods—and built adjacent to the site like a Lego set," Sidharth explains. These elements are then placed using cranes, allowing seven towers of eight stories each to be completed in just 12-15 months. This is the future of affordable housing: precision-engineered, industrial-scale construction that eliminates the unpredictability of manual labor.
The Magicrete Tech Stack
- BuildMart App: Connecting 10,000 contractors directly to the platform for ordering and loyalty rewards.
- Sarthak App: An in-house tool for the 100+ sales team to manage orders and ledgers in real-time.
- Manufacturing IoT: Scada and PLC interfaces in all four factories allow for live performance tracking and predictive maintenance.
- Microsoft Recognition: Featured by Microsoft for exceptional use of Business Central ERP and Power BI to scale manufacturing.
Surviving the Down-cycle: Double Down on Basics
The period between 2016 and 2019 was brutal for Indian real estate due to demonetization and the GST rollout. While 25% of competitors shut down, Magicrete took a contrarian approach. They doubled down on the business, investing in cost efficiencies and service quality. "When things get tough, that's the time to focus on the basics," Sidharth advises. This resilience paid off, as the last two years have been the best in their history, with record margins and performance.
Magicrete: Growth at a Glance (Jan 2026)
- Daily Turnover: Exceeding ₹1 Crore.
- Manufacturing Scale: 4 high-capacity factories and growing.
- Market Cap: India's Frontline producer of AAC and Precast solutions.
- Product Verticals: AAC Blocks, Construction Chemicals, Tile Adhesives, and 3D Precast.
- Funding: Successfully raised capital in 2013 and 2023 with long-term investor support.
Lessons in Scalability and Relentless Focus
Reflecting on 14 years of entrepreneurship, Sidharth Bansal emphasizes three core lessons for any builder of businesses:
Sidharth's Guide for Industrial Founders
1. Target Large Opportunities: Don't spend 10 years in an industry with a ₹200 crore potential. Choose a market that can fulfill your highest aspirations.
2. Relentless Focus: There will be a tendency to lose focus during tough times or when you see other "cool" startups in tech. Stick to your belief in the basics.
3. Build the Systems First: Use technology to build the tools today so that your foundation isn't shaky when you scale 3x or 4x tomorrow.
The Meaning of Entrepreneurship
For Sidharth Bansal, being an entrepreneur is about being a **measured risk-taker** who enjoys the journey of creation. By merging the analytical rigor of McKinsey with the "grease and steel" of manufacturing, he has built an organization that is not just making homes—it's building the sustainable bedrock of a new India.
As Magicrete continues to add new verticals like waterproofing and tile adhesives, the goal remains the same: use technology to make construction faster, better, and greener. In the world of building materials, Sidharth Bansal and his team aren't just selling blocks—they are engineering the future of Indian living.
About the Guest
Sidharth Bansal is the Co-founder of Magicrete Building Solutions. A mechanical engineer from IIT Delhi and a PGDM graduate from IIM Lucknow, Sidharth spent his early career in management consulting at **McKinsey & Company** and private equity at **Lighthouse Funds**. He joined his brother Sourabh in 2012 to transform Magicrete into India's leading producer of AAC blocks and Precast solutions. He is a recognized expert in industrial scalability, manufacturing IoT, and sustainable construction practices, dedicated to bridging India's infrastructure gap through high-tech engineering.
Magicrete is India's frontline producer of AAC blocks, AAC panels, and 3D Precast construction solutions. By leveraging advanced European technology and sustainable fly-ash based materials, Magicrete provides high-quality building materials that are faster to install and more energy-efficient than traditional bricks. The company operates four state-of-the-art factories and a national distribution network, serving the country's most ambitious residential and commercial projects.