Excise Relief for Cement? Jairaj Kapadia SPECULATION is currently rife on the stock market that a cut in the excise duty on cement is imminent. This is after the expectations of the industry of a relief in this year's union budget did not come true. The excise duty on cement was hiked to Rs 90 per tonne in the 1991-92 budget. Even as the market is talking about the relief now coming, the industry has not said a word to this effect. But on the market the impression is showing. There has been a spate of buying in cement shares, although till now they were going abegging. Cement companies and others having taken to cement manufacture in a big way had reported a setback in both sales and profits.