India’s competition commission fines five tire makers for price-fixing

New Delhi – The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined five local tire makers and the Indian Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) for price-fixing activities.

In a statement 2 Feb, the CCI said it had imposed a total penalty of INR17.8 billion (€208 million) against tire makers Apollo Tyres, MRF, Ceat, JK Tyre and Birla Tyres, as well as a penalty of Rs840,000 on ATMA for cartel activities during 011-12 and 2013-14.

The companies, said the order, were “indulging in cartelisation” by acting in concert to increase the prices of cross ply/bias tires variants sold by in the replacement market and limiting and controlling production and supply in the said market.

The commission noted that the tire makers had exchanged price-sensitive data amongst them through the platform of ATMA and had taken collective decisions on the prices of tires. 

The CCI also said that it found that ATMA collected and compiled information relating to company-wise and segment-wise data (both monthly and cumulative) on production, domestic sales and export of tires on a real-time basis. 

“The sharing of such sensitive information made the coordination easier amongst the tire manufacturers,” it added.

As a result, the CCI ordered ATMA to "disengage and disassociate" itself from collecting wholesale and retail prices through the member tire companies or otherwise.

The decision confirmed a previous order dated 31 Aug 2018, which had been kept in sealed cover following a petition by MRF. 

Individual penalties for the tire makers are INR4.25 billion on Apollo Tyres; INR6.22 billion on MRF Ltd.; INR2.52 billion on Ceat Ltd.; INR3.09 billion on JK Tyre and INR1.78 billion on Birla Tyres.