Mumbai: The government is likely to ease quality certification rules for imported cement, sources at the industry ministry said.

Cement import currently needs to be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards before it can be distributed in the country.

The government is likely to waive this requirement and imports would be allowed even if the cement shipments were certified by other internationally acclaimed private certifiers, industry secretary Ajay Dua said.

"If someone applies for import, then the batch can be certified by Lloyds or SGS," he said.

The government allowed import of cheaper cement from Pakistan in April, as part of efforts to fight inflation. But the first shipment of about 525 tonnes could not be distributed in the Indian market as it did not yet have clearance certificates from the Bureau for Indian Standards, he said.

Clearance certificates from the BIS tend to take some time, Dua said adding that he expected prices to moderate further in the next few months.

Cement prices in India have been rising due to a demand-supply mismatch as Asia''s third largest economy scales up infrastructure to sustain growth.

The cement price index rose 0.2 per cent in the week to May 26 from the previous week. Prices rose 9.8 per cent from the same time a year ago, government data showed.

Prices have firmed up in the southern part of the country in recent weeks, Dua said, but he expected demand to fall in monsoon.