Govt happy with small concessions from cement makers on prices

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) The fortnight old controversy over an extraordinary increase in cement prices came to rest this evening with manufacturers assuring the government that they will not escalate prices any further till the end of monsoon.

In a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, the cement manufacturers said, they would also give a 5 per cent discount on all government purchases .

However observers wonder whether the government got anything in return for all the tough talk that Mr Kamalnath had indulged in.

After all it is a small concession from the manufacturers who have raised prices by as much as 50 per cent in the last few months on the back of a boom in housing and infrastructure construction.

Mr Kamalnath had earlier warned that the government could ban exports if cement manufacturers did not roll back the prices.

Most of the cement companies have reported very high increase in their net profit in the last quarter of 2005-06. Some of them reported as much as over 450 per cent increase in their bottom line taking advantage of the market conditions.

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