By Admin 
CCI Report on Steel Price Collusion: A big revelation has been made in a report of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). According to the report, a total of 28 steel companies including JSW Steel, government company SAIL and Tata Steel colluded to fix steel prices. According to news agency Reuters, confidential documents reveal that these companies have been found guilty of violating competition law, due to which their senior executives are at risk of heavy fines.
impact on stock market
After the report came out, there was pressure in the shares of steel companies on Tuesday afternoon. SAIL shares fell nearly 3% to Rs 146.32 on NSE. JSW Steel shares were seen trading 1.26% lower at Rs 1,171. The impact on Tata Steel was relatively minimal, but the stock was down 0.39% at Rs 184.99 (2:29 pm).
In the CCI report, a total of 56 senior officials have been accused of collusion. These include the names of JSW Managing Director Sajjan Jindal, four former chairpersons of SAIL, and Tata Steel CEO T.V. Narendran. According to the report, these alleged irregularities occurred at different times between 2015 and 2023.
This order of CCI is of October 6 (last year), but it has become public only now. The market is keeping an eye on the further legal process and possible punishment in the case.
Accusations of collusion against 56 officers
It is noteworthy that this is considered to be the biggest case related to the steel industry so far, the investigation of which started in the year 2021. At that time a group of builders had filed a criminal case in a state court of Tamil Nadu. The allegation was that nine major steel companies, in collusion with each other, were deliberately reducing the supply of steel so as to create artificial shortage in the market and increase prices.
As the investigation progressed, Reuters reported in 2022 that surveillance agencies had raided the offices of several steel companies in this matter. After this, the scope of the investigation was further widened, in which not only the number of companies was increased but many senior officials of a total of 31 companies and industry groups were also included in the scope of investigation.
All these aspects have been mentioned in detail in the order issued by CCI in October. However, under CCI rules, complete information related to this case is not made public until the final decision is taken, hence this order has not been formally revealed yet. Despite this, this episode is being considered a milestone in the history of competition law, which may have an impact on the entire steel sector and corporate governance in the future.
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