Proposed Regulatory Authority for Steel and Cement welcomed by Micky Metals and Bengal Peerless Housing Development Company

“Nitin Gadkari’s assurance to the Builder’s Association of India to look into the demands of creating a Regulatory Authority for Steel and Cement should come as a big relief for the real estate players. Cement and Steel constitute a large portion of the cost of construction and large northward movement of prices can take the developer margins for a toss. Recent increase in steel prices can shrink margins by around 5%," said Ketan Sengupta.

"A developer enters into an agreement with house buyers bound by a no escalation clause. Price rises which are more than normal , can easily upset project feasibility creating fund crisis and slowing down progress. Under the purview of RERA there is very little scope of delay without penalisation. Hence stopping formation of such cartels is of primary importance for keeping costs under controls and would augur well for the real estate industry and the common buyer looking for affordable homes.”

“We welcome the move to form a regulatory authority by Road and transport minister, Shri Nitin gadkari. It would be great to have industry representatives from all key markets to create this watchdog. The authority should formulate regulatory policies that govern the principles of pricing. The watchdog committee should actively play a passive observer role without interfering in the day to day activity of the market . This should serve the interest of the steel industries as well as consumers.”

Mr.Saket Agarwal, Director, Micky Metals Ltd opined, "We welcome the move to form a regulatory authority by Road and transport minister, Shri Nitin gadkari. It would be great to have industry representatives from all key markets to create this watchdog. The authority should formulate regulatory policies that govern the principles of pricing. The watchdog committee should actively play a passive observer role without interfering in the day to day activity of the market . This should serve the interest of the steel industries as well as consumers.”

On Monday, Gadkari noted in an interaction with The Builders' Association of India, Western Region, that cartels existed in steel and cement industries, a situation detrimental to the country, especially when the government is planning to implement infrastructure projects worth Rs 111 lakh crore in the next five years.

"Every steel company has its own iron ore mines and there has been no increase in labour and power costs but they are increasing rates. It is difficult for me to understand (the reason behind it)," the minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

In December last, fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) started a probe into the alleged anti-competitive behaviour by the major cement companies in the country.

Cement majors ACC and Ambuja Cements have issued statements that they had been acting in strict compliance to their commitment to fair competition, said reports.