Competition Appellate Tribunal Directs Cement Cos.to Deposit Rs.630 crore -Friday May 17,2013

The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT), on Friday May 17,2013 ordered 10 cement cos., including UltraTech, Ambuja and ACC, and Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA) to deposit Rs.630 crore as it hears their appeal against a record amount of penalty imposed by Competition Commission of India (CCI) last year. 

The amount COMPAT asked some of the biggest cement manufacturers and their lobby group CMA to cough up within 4 weeks works out to 10% of the Rs.6,307 crore fine that the anti-trust body Competition Commission of India had fixed for alleged price fixing. 

As per the Interim Order -

• Ultratech has to deposit Rs.117.5 crore
• Ambuja Cement Rs.116.30 crore
• ACC Rs.114.76 crore
• India Cement Rs.18.74 crore
• JP Associates Rs.132.36 crore
• Binani Cement Rs.16.73 crore
• Madras Cement Rs.25.86 crore
• JK Cements Rs.12.85 crore
• Century Textiles Rs.27.4 crore and 
• CMA Rs.7.3 lakh

The three-member bench, headed by Justice V. S. Sirpurkar, said that if the penalties were not so deposited, the appeal shall be treated as dismissed without further reference to the court.

Although the tribunal stayed the penalty, the cease and desist order would continue against them as the tribunal “prima facie” found no wrong in CCI’s findings against them.