Indian Cement Makers Colluded on Prices for Twelve Years
A five-year probe found Indian cement firms rigged bids for state-run ONGC over twelve years. The companies face fines for collusion and blocking foreign rivals.
In India, a decade-long price-fixing scheme within the cement industry has been exposed following a suspicious tender response involving a claim of numerological luck. The investigation, led by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), was initiated after the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) flagged identical bids from multiple suppliers for a major cement order in 2018. When questioned about the uniform pricing of 7,000 rupees per tonne, an executive from The India Cements Limited reportedly justified the bid by stating that seven was his lucky number.
Following a five-year probe, the CCI identified a coordinated cartel that operated for 12 years between 2007 and 2018. The investigation focused on Dalmia Bharat Limited and Shree Digvijay Cement, with The India Cements Limited joining the arrangement during the 2017-18 period. The India Cements Limited was subsequently acquired by UltraTech Cement Limited in 2024. The regulator's findings suggest that the companies engaged in bid rigging, shared sensitive supply data, and divided territories to avoid direct competition.
