The Competition Commission of India has imposed a penalty of 50 percent of FY10 profits of cement companies.
The penalty on 11 companies would amount to Rs 6,300 crore, CNBC TV18 reported. Ambuja Cement, UltraTech, and India Cement are some of the companies penalised.
Reacting to the news, technical analyst SP Tulsian, told the television channel that the penalty is in line with expectation. He also said the competition watchdog has sent a strong signal that it would not allow any kind of cartelisation.
AFP
The CCI has been investigating 39 cement companies over alleged cartelisation.
The CCI investigated allegations that the companies decreased production to inflate prices. It also looked into the supply shortage issue and found that cement companies were running far below their plant capacity at around 70 percent, according to an earlier CNBC-TV18 report.
Shares of cement companies fell on speculation that the competition commission will come out with its order soon. However, since the news came after market hours, tomorrow will be a crucial day for major cement companies like ACC Cements, Ambuja and Ultratech.
