India’s antitrust watchdog raided the offices of three top beer companies on Thursday as part of an investigation of price-fixing allegations, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters .
Search and seizure operations were conducted at dawn by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) at the offices of India’s United Breweries, Denmark’s Carlsberg and the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) in at least two cities, the three sources said, including one government source and an industry source.
The regulator has been conducting an antitrust investigation of the three companies for the past year, said a fourth source with direct knowledge of the inquiries.
The CCI was tipped off by one of the three companies after it filed a leniency application with the regulator, revealing details of the alleged price fixing, he added.
The regulator’s leniency programme is a type of whistleblower protection offered to cartel members.
The government source said that the raids found email exchanges showing that the companies were fixing prices.
“That is smoking gun evidence,” the source said.
All four sources declined to be named because they have not been authorised to discuss the matter with the media.
Asked about the raids, a spokesman for AB InBev in India said: “It would not be appropriate for us to comment at this time.”
The spokesman added: “We take antitrust compliance very seriously. Integrity and ethics are part of our core values, embodied in our company culture. Our Code of Business Conduct makes clear that our employees must understand and comply with all applicable competition laws.”
Carlsberg, United Breweries and CCI did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
