Pitching to place a regulator for the sectors, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that big players in the steel and cement industry are indulging in cartelization to jack-up prices. He noted that it will be difficult to achieve government’s dream of making India a $5 trillion economy if the steel and cement prices keep going up.
Gadkari has stated that allegations of such cartelisation have been made in the past as well, especially by the real estate industry, which is impacted through higher input prices because of it. He has discussed the issue with the Prime Minister and had a lengthy discussion on it with the Principal Secretary in the PMO as well.
Stating that all the players in the steel industry have their own iron ore mines, and do not have to face any hikes in labour or power rates, the minister wondered how the steel industry has been hiking prices. He added that the cement industry is exploiting the situation by hiking up the prices, and underlined that the stance of both the industries is not in the national interest, given the infrastructure spends lined up.