Cement Hike just As Said.

Cement companies are paying higher excise from Thursday, so they have passed on the extra cost to the consumer.Prices have gone up by Rs 12-15 a bag and cement dealers say that they are likely to increase by another Rs 5-10 very soon.Quite clearly, the Finance Minister's tax signal to cement companies that they should cut prices hasn't worked at all.In fact repeated attempts by the government to curb cement prices haven't had any concrete results.Governmnet intervention"A few months ago my colleague, the ministry of industry called the cement industry and said why are they pushing up cement prices. They promised to co-operate, but there has been none and I did caution at a meeting, not to push up prices just because there was room to do that," said P Chidambaram.Cement manufacturers say that when the market is willing to pay a higher price, the government has no business intervening.However, the government's concern right now is tackling inflation and if cement prices come in the way, it could take even stronger action.