In a case of restrictive trade practices the Competition Commission of India(CCI) has imposed a penalty of Rs. 397.51 crore on Shree Cement while issuing final order in the case against cement manufacturers and their trade body Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).
The CCI said “The Commission has also imposed a penalty on Shree Cement Ltd at the rate of 0.5 times of its profits for the years 2009-10 and 2010-11 aggregating to Rs. 397.51 crores”.
It further said, “found eleven cement manufacturers, including Shree Cement Limited and CMA in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002, which deal with CCI including cartels”.
The CCI also cautioned the company to refrain from such anti-competitive activities in the future.
With regard to other companies, the CCI said as they were fined earlier, it was not imposing any penalty on them again for the same period of contravention.
CCI last month had imposed penalty on several companies of a whopping Rs. 6,307 crore on 11 leading cement makers, which includes ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech, India Cements, Binani Cement, JK Cement, Madras Cement, LaFarge and Jaypee Cement. Industry body CMA was also fined with Rs. 73 lakh.
The inquiry, the CCI statement said, was based on a case which was transferred from the Office of the Director General (Investigation & Registration) of the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission to the CCI.
The MRTP Commission had initiated the investigations on a letter of Builders Association of India as well as on the basis of press reports published in a business daily.
