India Antitrust Body Imposes $1.1 Billion Penalty on 11 Cement Firms for Price Fixing
June 21 2012 - 7:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Prasenjit Bhattacharya
NEW DELHI--India's antitrust body Thursday imposed a total
penalty of 60 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) on 11 cement companies
for price fixing.
The companies penalised by the Competition Commission of India
include ACC Ltd. (500410.BY), Ambuja Cements Ltd. (500425.BY),
UltraTech Cement Ltd. (532538.BY), Jaiprakash Associates Ltd.
(532532.BY), India Cements Ltd. (530005.BY), and the local unit of
France's Lafarge SA (LG.FR).
"The commission has found that the cement companies have not
utilised the available capacity so as to reduce supplies and raise
prices in times of higher demand," it said in its judgement.
It said the penalty on each company amounted to 50% of profit
for the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Write to Prasenjit Bhattacharya at
prasenjit.bhattacharya@dowjones.com