11 cement firms fined Rs. 63 b in India for price collusion

Reuters: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined 11 Indian cement companies a total of more than Rs. 60 billion in a price collusion investigation, the Government said in a statement on Thursday.

UltraTech Cement, part of the diversified Aditya Birla Group, Holcim-controlled ACC and Ambuja Cement, India Cements and the Indian unit of France’s Lafarge SA are among the companies penalised.

The companies have been fined 50 per cent of their profit for the fiscal years ending in 2010 and 2011 and must pay the penalty within 90 days.