The Competition Commission of India has imposed a total penalty of Rs. 2,544.64 crore against 14 car companies for taking undue advantage of their position and not allowing the market for spare parts and after sales to grow.
The car companies usually sell spare parts only through their dealer network, often resulting in high and arbitrary prices.
“The 14 car companies were found to be indulging in practices resulting in denial of market access to independent repairers as the latter were not provided access to branded spare parts and diagnostic tools which hampered their ability to provide services in the aftermarket for repair and maintenance of cars,” an official note said.
The companies are Honda Cars India (Rs. 78.47 crore); Volkswagen India (Rs. 3.25 crore); Fiat India Automobiles (Rs. 29.98 crore); BMW India (Rs. 20.41 crore); Ford India (Rs. 39.78 crore); General Motors (Rs. 84.58 crore); Hindustan Motors (Rs. 13.85 crore); Mahindra and Mahindra (Rs. 292.25 crore); Maruti Suzuki (Rs. 471.14 crore); Mercedes-Benz India (Rs. 23.08 crore); Nissan Motors (Rs. 1.63 crore); Skoda Auto India (Rs. 46.39 crore); Tata Motors (Rs. 1,346.46 crore); and Toyota Kirloskar Motors (Rs. 93.38 crore).