Cement stocks lost ground today, falling by up to 4% amid reports that competition watchdog CCI may soon impose penalty on them over alleged price cartelisation.
Shares of ACC fell 3.82% to Rs 1,180.80, while Ambuja Cements lost 3% to Rs 165.55 and UltraTech Cement plunged 3.31% to Rs 1,396.70 on the BSE.
Among others, India Cements was trading lower by 0.99%, Madras Cements was down 2.42%.
According to news reports, CCI is believed to have slapped penalty of about Rs 3,000 crore on 11 big cement manufacturers, found guilty of being involved in price cartel.
CCI was probing the cartelisation charges based on complaints from realtors' body, Builders Association of India (BAI), which alleged that the retail prices fixed by cement manufacturers were almost same.
