10/03/2026

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAR 10, 2026

17 How a cement cartel came unstuck

NEW DELHI: When India’s largest oil explorer opened a tender for a cement order in 2018, it sensed something was off by the competing bids coming in: all of them were exactly 7,000 rupees per tonne. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation queried the bids and got a wry reply from an executive at India Cements. Seven was his “lucky number”, he explained. Suspicious, ONGC quietly lodged an antitrust case against three Indian cement companies. The details of the case were outlined in a confidential investigation report and evidence that were shared with the companies in January and reviewed by Reuters, following a five year probe that found a decade of price collusion targeting state-run ONGC. o Antitrust probe finds evidence of wrongdoing and bid rigging by Indian firms

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) report said the “cartel period” ran 12 years between 2007 and 2018 for Dalmia Cement (Bharat), a unit of India’s fourth-largest cement maker Dalmia Bharat, and rival Shree Digvijay. India Cements was part of the cartel for 2017-18. The report identified thinly concealed attempts at collusion by Indian companies, signalling a growing willingness by the regulator to scrutinise domestic firms after months of high-profile investigations into foreign giants. The Indian cement firms’ bid rigging, discussions of supply patterns and efforts to oust foreign bidders were “substantiated from strong evidences in form of communication, meetings, emails, admission,” said the 90-page report. Local media outlet Zee Business reported the basic finding of wrongdoing last year, but Reuters is the first to report the detailed tactics and evidence which underpin CCI’s investigation findings. Dalmia Bharat declined to

tackle breaches at state-run firms and in public procurement,” said Gautam Shahi, a competition law partner at Indian law firm Dua Associates. In January, Reuters reported an antitrust investigation found four major Indian steelmakers, including Tata Steel and JSW Steel, colluded on prices. Before filing the case in 2020, ONGC noticed bids had come in at the exact same or very similar pricing in four tenders for oil well cement. For example, the 2018 tender for 170,000 tonnes of cement saw all three companies quoting a price of 7,000 rupees, or 7,350 rupees per tonne with taxes, for different states. That prompted ONGC to issue a warning in late 2019, with a notice to India Cements, contained in the report, saying the identically priced bids suggested violation of competition law. India Cements defended its bid in a written submission on its letterhead to ONGC that year, citing global trends as well as the “lucky number”. “The financial bid was also supported by the numerology factor

comment citing pendency of the matter before the CCI, but has previously said it is cooperating with the authorities. India Cements, which was acquired by No. 1 player UltraTech in 2024, did not respond, and neither did Shree Digvijay, ONGC or the CCI. The cement companies have been asked to respond to the report and the watchdog will then issue a final order within months. It has powers to drop any of the investigation findings, but fines can go as high as three times the companies’ profit or 10% of their turnover for each year of wrongdoing. In fiscal year 2024-25, Dalmia Bharat recorded annual revenues of US$1.5 billion, Shree Digvijay US$79 million and India Cements US$444 million. While Apple, Amazon and other foreign firms have faced intense antitrust scrutiny, the cement case highlights CCI’s focus on big Indian firms from key economic sectors. “Tech cases have been a growing focus for CCI but there is increased cognizance within the government to

pandemic, according to AFP research. While vowing to create more jobs and boost consumption, Premier Li Qiang acknowledged that the country was facing “quite a few problems and challenges”in economic development. Meanwhile, prices at the factory gate – stuck in negative territory since October 2022 – fell at a slower rate last month, NBS data showed. The producer price index showed a drop of 0.9% in February, the slowest pace of deflation since July 2024 and smaller than the 1.4% decline in January. – AFP of 7”, the company letter stated. The CCI’s investigation puts the onus of breaches on eight top executives including former managing director of Shree Digvijay, Rajeev Nambiar; billionaire chairman of Dalmia Bharat, Y.H. Dalmia; and former managing director of India Cements, N. Srinivasan, who is also one of India’s high-profile business figures. None of the executives responded to Reuters queries. The CCI also cited Shree Digvijay senior vice-president Prem R. Singh, whose testimony said “the prime objective for quoting the identical price was to allocate almost equal volumes and revenue amongst companies”. Singh visited rival Dalmia’s office for “directly assisting” them in their tender filing in 2018, the CCI report said, citing messages sent by Prem to Nambiar, his then managing director. Prem did not respond to requests for comment. Shree Digvijay and Dalmia were “actively involved” in calculating the rail freight distance of their factories from ONGC cement delivery destinations. They then bid accordingly to avoid competition and divided territories amongst themselves. Excel sheets were also made comparing distances to decide “volume sharing” among rivals, the report showed. Shree Digvijay and Dalmia also targeted foreign firms who bid by flagging “prickly issues”, said the report. They repeatedly filed complaints with the Indian government about foreign bidders’ lack of certification and how New Delhi should promote domestic firms over foreign ones. Foreign bidders included Texas based Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider now known as SLB , UAE-based Classic Oil Field Chemicals and Bell Weather, the report showed. The three companies did not respond to queries. The investigators concluded that the companies tried at least once to pressure ONGC to cancel foreign bids by deciding to “restrict supply” of cement to the oil explorer, which breaches antitrust laws. In 2019, one executive wrote to another: “Need your support in making them (ONGC) understand that they cannot throw Indian parties in bath tub.” The companies could “not digest the fact that a foreign bidder” can be awarded a tender, the CCI said. – Reuters

People pass by in front of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation office in New Delhi. – REUTERSPIC

China consumer prices see quickest jump in three years BEIJING: China’s consumer prices rose last month at the quickest pace in three years, official data showed yesterday, thanks to the Lunar New Year break and a rally in oil prices and Middle East tensions rose. measure of inflation, came in at 1.3% in February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). That marked the biggest vowed to encourage domestic spending ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in February and typically sees travel and shopping expenditure spike. global energy prices remain elevated,” Zichun Huang of Capital Economics wrote in a note.

But the “easing of oil price deflation and volatility in food and tourism prices over Lunar New Year” are “temporary”, she added.With the government outlook “disappointing in terms of boosting domestic demand, any inflationary pickup will unwind once tensions ease”, Huang said. China’s top leaders last week set a goal of 4.5%-5% annual economic growth for 2026, the lowest target since 1991 excluding the Covid

year-on-year jump since January 2023, when prices rose 2.1%, and topped the 0.9% increase forecast in a Bloomberg survey. It also marked an acceleration from the 0.2% rise recorded in January and December’s 0.8%. However, it is still well below the government’s two percent target for the year. Local authorities across China had

The increase was also stoked by rising oil prices as concerns about tensions in the Middle East built up ahead of the US-Israel strikes on Iran on Feb 28. China is heavily reliant on the region for its oil needs. But analysts said the pick-up would not be long term. “Tensions in the Middle East will push inflation higher for as long as

Beijing wants to make domestic consumption the main driver of its economic growth and shift away from traditional drivers such as exports and manufacturing. But results have been muted, with people unwilling to spend as the economy lags. The consumer price index, a key