Ahead of the
deadline to pay fine , 10 out of 11 cement companies penalised for
cartelisation have approached the Competition Appellate Tribunal for redressal.
Major sources said, ''The companies had approached the tribunal last week and the matter will come up for hearing on September 13, 2012. The major companies on which fine was imposed included ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech Cement and Jaiprakash Associates . The companies were fined in excess of about Rs. 1,000 crore each.
In June, 2012, the CCI (Competition Commission of India) had imposed a penalty of Rs 6,307 crore on 11 cement companies for cartelisation.
All the 11 firms were fined 0.5% of their average profit for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, the period for which they were investigated. The anti-trust watchdog, in its unanimous decision by all 6 members and Chairman Mr. Ashok Chawla, also imposed a token amount as fine on lobby group Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA). The CCI investigated about cement companies on a complaint filed by the BAI (Builders Association of India), a lobby group of engineering & construction contractors.
The CCI asked the companies to deposit the fine amount in 3 months’ time. It directed the the CMA to stop collecting information about prices, dispatches & products, and circulating it among its members.
It may be pointed out that cement stocks have been shedding between 5% and 15% due to slowdown in economy & the real estate sector in particular.
India’s cement
market is the world’s second largest after China with an overall production
capacity of 33 crore tonnes per year.
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