India: five cement producers to appeal the CCI order

Five of the seven cement companies which were fined by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in January, for alleged bid rigging of a 2012 tender put out by the Haryana government, will appeal to the Competition Appellate Tribunal.

Shree Cement, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC Ltd and JK Lakshmi Cement will contest the CCI order as they are of the view that they have a ‘good case for succeeding in the appeal.’ Other companies such as UltraTech Cement and Jaiprakash Associates are currently reviewing the order, according to the Business Standard.

According to industry sources, the five companies contesting the CCI order will fight the case individually and there is no information about dates for the cases yet.

The CCI, while imposing a total fine of INR205,730m on all seven companies, alleged that the cement manufacturers had formed a cartel and quoted considerably higher rates than the existing contract rates.

Further, the CCI alleged that these companies, acting in concert, collectively and deliberately quoted bids for substantially lower quantities as compared to the quantities they had been quoting in the past.