The Supreme Court requests CCI's response to MRF's petition

26 Sep 2023 , 12:18 PM

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s December order requesting that the antitrust watchdog reconsider and re-calculate the fine it imposed on tyre companies for alleged cartelization and price manipulation was challenged in court by tyre manufacturer MRF Ltd. The Supreme Court on Monday requested a response from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in relation to this request.

The CCI had ordered the tire companies to pay fines totaling more than Rs 1,788 crore in August 2018 and to stop engaging in unfair commercial practices.

The CCI was given notice by a panel chaired by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who also grouped the MRF’s appeal with the CCI’s. While debating the CCI’s appeal in April, the top court declined to stay the appellate tribunal’s ruling.

On appeal from the tire makers, the NCLAT had instructed the CCI to issue a new order, stressing the necessity to revisit arithmetical and unintentional mistakes as well as the punishment to protect the local tire industry. According to the appellate tribunal, in order to fulfill the goals of the Competition Act, the watchdog must take into account the nation’s economic development in addition to the promotion of domestic industry. 

The CCI fined Apollo Tyres Rs 425.53 crore, MRF Ltd. Rs 622.09 crore, CEAT Ltd. Rs 252.16 crore, JK Tyre Rs 309.95 crore, and Birla Tyres Rs 178.33 crore. The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) was fined Rs 8.4 lakh and told to stop and dissociate itself from gathering wholesale and retail pricing through its member tyre companies or in any other way.

The regulator discovered that tire producers had used the ATMA platform to share price-sensitive data among themselves and had made choices about tire prices as a group.

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