MRTPC pulls up ACC, Grasim for price rigging

Fair Trade practices body MRTPC has pulled up ACC, Laffarge Cement, Birla's Grasim and four other top cement producers for cartelisation to increase prices in tandem.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission found that the producers, through the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA), "acted in concert" to raise prices in Jabalpur.

In its order, MRTPC asked the manufacturers to stop and desist from such practices, while letting off another major manufacturer Gujarat Ambuja Cement.

Issuing a cease and desist order to the manufacturers found guilty of rigging prices, MRTPC asked them "to refrain from indulging in any sort of arrangement through the instrumentality of CMA or otherwise fixing selling price of the cement in the market. A three-member MRTPC bench headed by Chairman Justice O P Dwivedi also directed the cement manufacturers to file a affidavits of compliance of its order within eight weeks. The other cement producers pulled up include Parisim Cement, Larsen and Turbo, Satna Cement, Jaypee Cement, Diamond Cement and Maihar Cement.