"All steel majors have increased prices identically. We are planning to file a complaint with the Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC)," association chairman SP Jain said.

Steel producers have increased prices by Rs 1,000 per tonne of HR coil with effect from January 1 and are going to hike it further by another Rs 500 per tonne from April, Jain said.

"Moreover, they have refused to fulfil their previous commitments which were made prior to the announcement of reference prices," Jain said.

Asked about commerce ministry's reaction to cold-rolled manufacturers' request for scrapping the notification, Jain said that government was considerate and "we are hopeful that it will come to our rescue."

Cold-rolled coil manufacturers were ready to accept thehike in HR coil prices provided cold-rolled 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 down the increase in project costs to users. In some cases, project costs for establishing HR plant have increased three-folds as the money was diverted to other activities and they showed inability to repay their loans to 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 down stream products also.