"All steel majors have increased prices identically. We are planning to file a complaint with the Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC)," CRSMA chairman S P Jain said. The steel producers have increased prices by Rs 1,000 per tonne of HR coil with effect from January 1 and they are going to hike it further by another Rs 500 per tonne from April, Jain said.

Not only this, they have refused to fulfil their previous commitments which were made prior to the announcement of reference prices.

Asked about commerce ministry's reaction to cold rolled steel manufacturers' request for scrapping the notification, Jain said that government was considerate. "We are hopeful that it will come to our rescue," he said.The cold rolled (CR) coil manufacturers wereready to accept the hike in HR coil prices provided CR prices were increased simultaneously, Anil Ahuja of Bhushan Steel and Strips said.

Ahuja said that CR manufacturers had agreed in principle to pay Rs 500 more per tonne of HR coil from April onward. Some of the private steel producers including Essar Steel, Jindal Iron and Steel Company and Ispat Industries were trying to pass on the increase in project costs to the users.In some cases, project costs for establishing HR plant have increased three-fold as the money was diverted to other activities and they showed inability to repay their loans to the financial institutions.

Subsequently, they asked for protection in order to payback their loans, which they got by way of reference price notification, Ahuja said.He said that CR manufacturers wanted a level playing field by way of increasing prices for downstream products also.

On the other hand, steel producers including Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Tata Steel (TISCO) and other privateproducers have blamed cheap imports for their dismal financial performance during the last and current financial year.