Competition Commission of India fines 5 tyre cos

NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday said it has imposed penalties of Rs 425.53 crore on Apollo Tyres, Rs 622.09 crore on MRF, Rs 252.16 crore on CEAT, Rs 309.95 crore on JK Tyre and Rs 178.33 crore on Birla Tyres for indulging in cartelization. Beside, the fair market regulator passed a "cease and desist order" against them.

On August 31, 2018, the CCI had given an ruling against these tyre companies and their association, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) for indulging in cartelization of tyre prices.

A penalty of Rs 0.084 crore was also imposed on the association.

The case against these companies was initiated on the basis of a reference received from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, based on a representation made by the All India Tyre Dealers' Federation.

"The Commission noted that the tyre manufactures had exchanged price-sensitive data amongst them through the platform of their association, namely, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA), and had taken collective decisions on the prices of tyres," the regulator said in a statement.

Also, the commission found that the ATMA collected and compiled information relating to company-wise and segment-wise data on production, domestic sales and export of tyres on a real-time basis, adding that the sharing of such sensitive information made the co-ordination easier amongst the tyre manufacturers.

The act was contravention of the relevant Act, which prohibits anti-competitive agreements including cartelization. (IANS)

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