Following a complaint from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the Competition Commission of India had taken up an investigation to identify possibility of cartelisation by asbestos sheet manufacturers. The Director General (DG) led the investigation and the probe report was submitted to the regulator in January this year.
SFIO had alleged that the members of ACPMA (Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association) have formed a cartel controlling production volume and sales. It also said that the association was forcing members to close their plants to control production.
However, on investigating the CCI found no sufficient evidence of carte-¡lisation. Disposing of the case, CCI-‘s official statement said, "There is not sufficient evidence to hold that the manufacturers of ACS have contravened fair trade norms. Since there is no evidence on record to suggest cartel¡sation by ACS manufacturers, the matter is now disposed of accordingly."
In its report, the Director General listed about 15 players in the industry, six of them are major players – Everest Industries, Hyderabad Industries, Ramco Industries, Sahyadri Industries, UAL Industries and Visaka Industries.
"The major players who over the years 2008-12 had a market share of around 80-85 per cent in terms of production, installed capacity, sales in value as well as sales by volume and moved within limited range," the order said in reference to the DG-‘s report.