'CCI penalty on 11 cement cos will give level playing field'

Competition Commission's move to impose more than Rs 6,700 crore penalty on11 cement companies for cartelisation will give realestate players a level- playing field in the future, CREDAI said here today.
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India, the apex body for private real estate developers in the country, also hoped that the cement manufacturers would not take any arbitrary steps to increase price.
"This move by CCI has vindicated our stand. We applaud the authority's decision as this also gives the industry a level playing field in the future."
"We are hopeful that any arbitrary price increase by cement manufacturers in such unprecedented fashion and force will not be exercised further and end buyers will not have to suffer high construction costs," CREDAI National President Getambar Anand said in a statement.

CCI had yesterday imposed more than Rs 6,700 crore penalty on 11 cement companies, including ACC and Binani, for cartelisation.
Apart from penalising the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA), the fair trade regulator had directed all the entities to "cease and desist" from indulging in any activity relating to agreement, understanding or arrangement on prices, production and supply of cement in the market.

Anand said CCI's judgement on the cement pricing issue is an encouraging move for the entire construction ecosystem.
"The developer community has always claimed that there is anunprecedented increase of cement prices at certain times ofthe year and it results into cost of the construction for affordable homes going up," he said.

Fair and reasonable pricing of construction material is imperative as it directly affects the cost of construction, especially today, when everyone is talking about affordable homes and housing for all, Anand said.
CREDAI has always maintained that paying reasonable prices for cement has never been an issue.
"However, such exponential increase in prices at certain times of the year will not be acceptable to us," Anand added.