Cement firms may get room to cut prices

Prices per bag likely to see a fall of ₹10-30

- URVI MALVANIA

CEMENT COMPANIES MAY soon find themselves playing a delicate balancing act — reaping the benefits of a proposed cut in Goods and Services Tax (GST), while deciding how much of that relief to pass down the supply chain.

According to sources close to the development, the GST Council is set to approve a cut in tax on cement from 28% to 18%. This will mean that cement companies have some headroom to lower prices at a time when the market is seeing demand softness.

The industry is currently grappling with muted demand, weighed down by seasonal monsoon weakness and muted offtake across several regions, analysts observed.