Cement companies fined Rs 6000 crores for cartelisation

The Competition Commission of India has levied a penalty of Rs 6,000 crore on cement companies for acting in tandem to fix prices. The companies have been fined 50 per cent of their turnover for 2009-10 and 2010-11.

CCI has also fined the Cement Manufacturers' Association. The penalty is expected to be deposited within within 90 days.
UltraTech, Ambuja Cements, ACC, India Cements, Binani Cement, JK Cement, Madras Cement, LaFarge and Jaypee Cement are among the companies have been fined for their role in creating and running a cement pricing cartel.

Some of the companies are expected to approach the tribunal for a relief.

Industry observers say that the amount is rather large and some companies that in the business that are heavily debt laden may find the ability to raise resources tough.

Cement stocks are expected to fall on the back of the order, as analysts believe if there is no relief it would certainly have an impact on the financial performance of cement companies.

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