Displaying items by tag: CCI
Competition Commission of India to take more time to decide on LafargeHolcim merger
24 November 2014India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said that the LafargeHolcim merger is likely to have an adverse effect on the competition in the cement industry. The anti-trust regulator has asked the two companies to publish details of the deal on their websites as well as publish them in four leading daily newspapers. It has also sought comments or objections from the public within 15 days of the merger details being published. CCI chairman Ashok Chawla has said that the CCI would take around two months to decide on the deal.
CCI imposes US$66.2m penalty on Shree Cement
19 June 2014India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed the penalty on Shree Cement while issuing the final order in a case against cement manufacturers and their trade body, the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).
"The Commission has imposed a penalty on Shree Cement Ltd at the rate of half of its profits for the years 2009 - 2010 and 2010 – 2011, aggregating to US$66.2m," said the CCI. The CCI added that it had, "Found 11 cement manufacturers, including Shree Cement and the CMA, in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act 2002, which deal with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels." It asked Shree Cement to refrain from such anti-competitive activities in the future.
With regard to the other companies, the CCI said that as they were fined earlier, it was not imposing any penalty on them again for the same period of contravention. In June 2012 the CCI imposed a US$1.05bn fine on 11 leading cement makers, including ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech, India Cements, Binani Cement, JK Cement, Madras Cement, Lafarge and Jaypee Cement. The industry body CMA was also fined US$121,717.
CBI may probe CCI’s selection process
28 March 2014India: The selection for the post of chief executive of the Cement Corporation of India (CCI), which is run by the state of New Dehli, has triggered controversy with regards to the preparation of the list of candidates and the criteria for selection, which was allegedly changed to include some names at the last minute. The CBI has taken note of complaints and is expected to order a probe soon.
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) issued a list on 11 March 2014 with the names of 15 candidates who has been shortlisted for the interview. After about a week, the PESB released a list of 16 candidates, allegedly flouting its own guidelines on the upper limit on the number of candidates. In the second list an external candidate was added, with no explanation given. The candidate who was seventh on the first list was moved to number one position on the second list. The only internal candidate was allegedly downgraded to the second position on the second list after being put on top of the league on the first list.
CCI approves US$605m UltraTech-Jaypee deal
03 February 2014India: UltraTech has received the green signal from the Competition Commission of India for its US$605m agreement with Jaypee Cement Corporation to purchase its Gujarat-based businesses.
UltraTech plans to acquire Jaypee's facilities, which include an integrated cement manufacturing plant at Sewagram, a captive power plant and mining leases and limestone reserves.
CCI has announced that the agreement will not affect competition in the market as companies like Lafarge and ABG Cement are initiating plants in Rajasthan and Gujarat respectively. CCI also stated that the entry of new companies counterbalances the competition market, which is affected by the merger of two similar companies, especially if the newly entered party is of ample size.
India: The Cement Corporation of India's (CCI) Bokajan cement plant has halted production since 1 January 2014 due to a shortage of funds to purchase coal. Employees, unions and other local bodies have threatened to thwart any 'conspiracy of management' to close down the plant on 'insubstantial grounds' and have sought the intervention of Assam's Chief Minister to restore production.
Previously, the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) declared that the state-owned CCI was a 'sick' industry but following good revenues from the cement producer's plants in Rajbon, Tendur and Bokajan the Indian government decided to keep the plants running.
India: The Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has signed an agreement with the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) to share the power from a 75MW power plant to be built at Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district in Assam. Fuel grade raw petroleum coke generated at the NRL after a capacity expansion will be used to generate power for the units with the surplus provided to the national grid.
"The proximity of the Bokajan (CCI) unit to the location of NRL's refinery provides the advantage of cheap rail transportation cost for both entities. This possible synergy will be economically favourable to both of the companies and will benefit the region as a whole," said NRL officials.
Indian realtors' body claims there is a cement cartel in India
25 September 2013India: The Indian Realtors' body CREDAI has said that cement prices across India had gone up by US$0.95-1.12/bag in the week to 23 September 2013 and that it was considering an approach to the fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging a cartel between the cement producers.
CREDAI chairman Lalit Kumar Jain said that cement prices in Pune had risen by 31% in just a week. "Considering that buyer sentiment is currently low, the cement price rise defies logic," he said. "We feel that there is a cartel. We are currently taking legal advice."
India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPACT) has ordered cement producers to pay 10% of a US$1.15bn fine imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a price-fixing cartel. The tribunal asked 11 Indian cement producers to pay the fine within 30 days otherwise their appeal against the fine will be dismissed.
COMPAT had reserved its order over a batch of petitions filed by various cement producers and the Cement Manufacturer's Association (CMA) on 18 March 2013 after hearing them on an interim plea. In the petitions, the cement producers had challenged US$1.15bn penalty imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and a US$133,000 fine imposed on the CMA. The cement companies charged with cartel behaviour include Lafarge India, India Cement, JP Associates, Binani Cement, Ambuja Cement, Madras Cement and J K Cement.
The CCI had found cement producers were in violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels. The order was passed following probe by CCI Director General (Investigation) on a complaint filed by Builders Association.
India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is investigating a complaint against a Chinese company offering waste heat recovery (WHR) solutions for the cement industry. This case is believed to be the first instance where a Chinese company has been affected by Indian competition law.
According to sources quoted by the Financial Express, Transparent Energy Systems (TESPL) filed a complaint against the Indian operations of Nanjing Triumph Kaineng (NTK). The complainant alleged the Chinese firm is severely impacting its business by quoting prices for tenders much below the market rates.
NTK specialises in WHR and accounts for a 30% market share of WHR power generation in the Chinese cement industry. It entered the Indian market in 2011 through a joint-venture with Tecpro Systems.
Cement Corporation of India sale revived
08 August 2012India: The Indian government has revived a plan to sell six Cement Corporation of India (CCI) factories, which have been closed for close to a decade. The six plants are located in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Delhi, with two in Chhattisgarh.
The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), which looks into ailing public sector units, has reconstituted an asset sale committee to arrive at a valuation for the six plants.
Cement Corp. officials refused to talk about the valuation but an industry analyst estimated that the six defunct plants could be worth over US$300m. Collectively, the production capacity of the six plants is 2.65Mt/yr.
"On average, the cost of buying readymade cement production capacity will be US$110-120/t," said V Srinivasan, a cement sector analyst at Angel Broking. At this price, the plants may fetch US$288-317m.
Possible companies that are looking to increase their cement capacity include UltraTech Cement, Lafarge, Holcim and Birla Corp. CCI also has three operational cement plants, with a combined capacity of 1.4Mt/yr.