Cement manufacturers have blamed the differential duty structure announced in the Budget proposals for not being able to roll back the increase in cement prices.

Within a day of the new duty structure having been announced, cement manufacturers raised their prices by Rs10-12 on a 50 kg bag of cement.

The government had introduced a dual excise duty structure based on the price of cement. For cement priced above Rs190 per 50kg, the duty was reduced from Rs400 to Rs350 per ton and raised to Rs600 rupees per tonne for cement priced above Rs190.