By IANS
New Delhi : The government will not allow cartelisation of cement prices and will take necessary measures to control them, Minister of State for Industries Ashwani Kumar said Tuesday.
“We will take all necessary steps to bring down cement prices. The government is importing more cement. The prices are high due to strong demand from the construction sector,” Ashwani Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit here.
“We will take all necessary steps including raising production capacity to bring down prices,” he said.
With India’s real estate sector booming, demand for cement has shot up tremendously, while the growth in supply has been lagging at less than 5 percent. Cement prices have soared by about 50 percent compared to last year.
The prices stabilised after June this year due to the monsoon (which slows down construction) and duty-free imports from Pakistan.