Eveready Industries India Ltd. led declines among shares of three dry-cell battery makers on Friday, a day after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties on them for ‘price fixing’.
Collusion on prices
In an order late on Thursday, CCI slapped fines on Eveready Industries India Ltd., Panasonic Energy India Co. and Indo-National Ltd. (manufacturers of the Nippo brand of batteries) for ‘colluding to fix prices of zinc-carbon dry cell batteries’.
The penalty on Eveready was fixed at ₹245.1 crore, that on Nippo at ₹52.8 crore and Panasonic was ordered to pay ₹74.7 crore. However, based on the firms’ applications for lesser penalties, the fines were revoked fully for Panasonic, reduced by 30% for Eveready and by 20% for Nippo. Following this, Eveready’s fine stood at ₹171.5 crore and Nippo’s at ₹42.3 crore.
Shares of EIIL tumbled 10.3% to close at ₹328.35 on the BSE on Friday, while Indo-National slid 2.8% and Panasonic lost 0.9%.
The CCI said it had taken up the case suo motu and that investigations had revealed that the battery makers, aided by their association, ‘had indulged in anti-competitive conduct of price coordination, limiting production / supply as well as market allocation’ from 2008 till August 2016.
The violations were in contravention of sub-sections of Section 3 of the Competition Act.
’Evaluating options’
Eveready said in a regulatory filing that it would take appropriate action after examining the CCI order fully.
While Panasonic said it had received full immunity, Indo-National said it would evaluate its future course after consulting its legal team.
