Telangana realtors want steep cement price hike rolled back

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) along with other industry bodies today asked cement companies to roll back the steep 60 per cent price hike as it would hurt the housing sector.
A joint action committee of the members of Credai, Telangana Real Estate Developers Association, Builders Association of India, Telangana Builders Federation and Telangana Developers Association have alleged that the cement makers increased prices in both Andhra and Telangana by around 60 per cent even as there is no change in raw material prices.
AP and Telangana with 20 cement manufacturers contribute about 26 per cent of the total installed capacity in the country. Annual cement consumption in Telangana and AP is around 22-24 million tonne, said S Ram Reddy, president of Credai Hyderabad and the chairman of the newly formed joint action committee.

"The housing sector accounts for a significant portion of cement demand in the country. We cannot be cornered by the cement cartel which steeply hiked the retail prices by close to 60 per cent even though there is no change in the input cost, taxes or demand.
"We vehemently oppose this unilateral move by cement manufacturers and want the price hike to be rolled back immediately. If not, we want the Telangana government to intervene," Reddy told reporters.
The move has badly hit the affordable housing sector as the developers in the region are on mostly into that segment only, he said, and pointed out that the present political and economic scenario and also the steady demand for cement does not warrant any price hike now.

"This price hike will create extra burden on consumers who will have to bear the burden of higher cost", he claimed.
The joint action committee is represented by over 600 developers and over 1000 small, medium and mega contractors.