A Never Before Deal That Had Cemented Corruption.

Mumbai; March 2026: In the year 2018, when the country’s largest oil explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), in the process of unveiling a tender bid pertinent to cement procuration found that one of the supplier India Cement has quoted a fixed price of Rs. 7000/- per ton. Upon seeking clarification, the concerned executive of Indian Cement had replied that ‘07’ happens to be his “Lucky Number”.

The details of the case were outlined in a confidential investigation report and evidence that were shared with the companies in January, following a five-years extensive probe that found a decade of price collusion targeting state-run ONGC.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) report said the “cartel period” ran 12 years between 2007 and 2018 for Dalmia Cement (Bharat), a unit of India’s fourth-largest cement maker Dalmia Bharat, and rival Shree Digvijay. India Cements was part of the cartel for 2017-18. The report identified thinly concealed attempts at collusion by Indian companies, signalling ​a growing willingness by the regulator to scrutinise domestic firms after months of high-profile investigations into foreign giants.

The Indian cement firms bid rigging, discussions of supply patterns and efforts to oust foreign bidders were “substantiated from strong ​evidences in form of communication, meetings, emails, admission”, demonstrated in the CCI’s 90-page report.

Dalmia Bharat declined to comment citing pendency of the matter before the CCI, but has previously said it is cooperating with the authorities. India Cements, which was acquired ​by No. 1 player UltraTech in 2024, did not respond, and neither did Shree Digvijay, ONGC or the CCI.

Meanwhile, the cement companies have been asked to respond to the report and CCI will then issue a final order within months. ​It has powers to drop any of the investigation findings, but fines can go as high as three times the companies’ profit or 10% of their turnover for each year of wrongdoing.

In the fiscal year 2024-25, Dalmia Bharat recorded annual revenues of $1.5 billion; Shree Digvijay $79 million; India Cements $444 million.

After the CCI’s report was made public, shares of Shree Digvijay extended losses to fall as much as 5.4%, while India Cements was down 4.4% and Dalmia Bharat down 3.5%.

While Apple, Amazon and other foreign firms have faced intense antitrust scrutiny, the ​cement case highlights CCI’s focus on big Indian firms from key economic sectors. Tech cases have been a growing focus for CCI but there is increased cognizance within the government to tackle breaches at state-run firms and in public procurement as reiterated by the Competition Commission Of India.

In January, another report by the CCI revealed that antitrust investigation found four major Indian steelmakers, including Tata Steel and JSW Steel, colluded on prices.

In the case of ONGC, before filing the case in 2020, ONGC noticed bids had come in ‌at the exact ⁠same or very similar pricing in four tenders for oil well cement. For example, the 2018 tender for 170,000 tons of cement saw all three companies quoting a price of 7,000 rupees, or 7,350 rupees per ton with taxes, for different states, that which had prompted ONGC to issue a warning in late 2019, with a notice to India Cements, contained in the report, saying the identically priced bids suggested violation of competition law.

India Cements defended its bid in a written submission on its letterhead to ONGC that year, citing global trends as well as the “lucky number”. “The financial bid was also supported by the numerology factor of 7”, the company letter stated.

The CCI’s investigation puts the onus of breaches on 08 top executives including ​former managing director of Shree Digvijay, Rajeev Nambiar; billionaire ​chairman of Dalmia Bharat, Y.H. Dalmia; and former managing ⁠director of India Cements, N. Srinivasan, who is also one of India’s high-profile business figures.

The CCI also cited Shree Digvijay senior vice president Prem R. Singh, whose testimony said “the prime objective for quoting the identical price was to allocate almost equal volumes and revenue amongst companies”. Singh had also visited rival Dalmia’s office for “directly assisting” ​them in their tender filing in 2018, the CCI report said, citing messages sent by Singh to Nambiar, his then managing director.

Shree Digvijay and Dalmia ⁠were “actively involved” in calculating the rail freight distance of their factories from ONGC cement delivery destinations. They then bid accordingly to avoid competition and divided territories amongst themselves. Excel sheets were also made comparing distances to decide “volume sharing” among rivals, the report showed.

All these had been done to keep away foreign bidders; it was Shree Digvijay and Dalmia who had targeted foreign firms who bid by flagging “prickly issues”, said the report. They repeatedly filed complaints with the Indian government about foreign bidders’ lack of certification and how New Delhi should promote domestic firms over foreign ones.

Foreign bidders included ⁠Texas-based Schlumberger, the ​world’s largest oilfield services provider now known as SLB; UAE-based Classic Oil Field Chemicals; Bell Weather, the report showed.

The investigators concluded that the companies tried at least once to pressure ONGC to cancel foreign bids by deciding to “restrict supply” of cement to the oil explorer, which breaches antitrust laws. In 2019, one executive wrote to another: “Need your support in making them (ONGC) understand that they cannot ​throw Indian parties in bath tub”. The companies could “not digest the fact that a foreign bidder” can be awarded a tender, the CCI said.

Team Maverick.