Builders seek regulatory body for cement sector

Mumbai: The Builders Association of India has called for a regulatory body for the cement industry, on the lines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

This is in view of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice Commission notice to 14 cement companies on charges of cartelisation.

Mr P.R. Mundle, President of BAI, said builders had for long argued that rising cement prices were not due to factors such as high input costs, taxes, duties and freight but a direct result of cartels jacking up prices arbitrarily.

Consolidation

Mr Mundle said that the BAI had been agitating against “artificial” rise in cement prices for at least two years.

It maintained that with consolidation in the cement industry, there were only three groups controlling 50 per cent of the total market.

The market price of cement rose from Rs 145 per bag in end-2005 to Rs 225 in March 2006 and now to Rs 245 per bag.

The construction industry being the sole consumer of cement continued to be at the receiving end due to the “unfair trade practices” by the cement producers and a majority of infrastructure projects were incurring time and cost overruns.