Shree Cement was asked to cease and desist from indulging in any activity relating to agreement, understanding or arrangement on prices, production and supply of cement in the market.

The Competition Commission of India has ordered this to the company and it also imposed a penalty at the rate of 0.5 times of its profits for the years 2009-10 and 2010-11 aggregating to Rs 397.51 corer.

The commission in its order issued found eleven cement manufacturers including Shree Cement and CMA in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deal with anti-competitive agreements including cartels.

As the cement companies (except Shree Cement) were already found to be in cartel in Case No. 29 of 2010 and penalized by the Commission vide its order dated 20.06.2012, the Commission decided not to order remedies including imposition of penalty on such companies again for the same period of contravention.

The inquiry was based on a case received on transfer from the Office of the Director General (Investigation & Registration) of the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission under section 66(6) of the Competition Act, 2002. The MRTP Commission had initiated the investigations on the basis of press reports published in a business daily as well as on a letter of Builders Association of India.