Builders Association Demands Regulatory Body for Steel & Cement

The Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) and Builders Association of India (BAI) Jharkhand chapter on Friday demanded the State and Central government to take necessary steps to establish a regulatory authority for steel and cement sectors.

The Chamber and BAI representatives said that constituting a cement regulatory authority for the sector would curb cartelisation and ‘undue profiteering’ by manufacturers. At the same time setting up authority for the steel sector was necessary to keep a tab on irrational hike in prices.

BAI Vice President Chandrakant Raipat said, “The steel and cement companies had cartelised pushing the construction industry into doldrums as the prices of steel and cement kept on going up and down.”  Raipat said that as there is no regulatory body for steel and cement, cement and steel manufacturers indulge in unethical trade practices causing irreparable damage to the growth and hurting the interests of the construction industry.

Raipat said, “BAI demands the Government to appoint Cement Regulatory Authority to rein in Cement Manufacturers from Cartel as it was appointed various regulatory authorities such as Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 1992 from stock markets, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 1997 for telecom sector, Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for Insurance Sector in 1999 and Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in 2016 for real estate sector.”

The media interaction was attended by Chamber president Praveen Kr. Jain (Chhabra), Vice President Kishor Mantri among others.

Chamber president Praveen Jain said, “The BAI with their demands will approach Nitin Gadkari Minister for Road Transport & Highways and the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister Office (PMO) for setting up regulatory body.”

Jain said that real estate contributes a major share in GDP but in past few months real estate has been facing tough times due to price hike of cement and steel. Jain said, “If the government fails to take any appropriate action the real estate industry will be affected. Also infrastructure projects in the social sector such as low cost affordable houses as proposed by the government will be affected.”

The BAI official claimed that in the past one month the price of steel has been fluctuating with price going up from Rs 42,000 per tonne to Rs 87,000 per tonnes to Rs 67,000 per tonnes. Similarly, the price of cement has gone up from Rs 275 per bag to Rs 450 per bag in a month.