INDIA'S anti-trust watchdog has fined 14 automakers a total of $420m (£253.09m) for restricting competition in the spare parts market and driving up prices, a official said on Tuesday (August 26), a few days after Chinese regulators took similar action.
The Competition Commission of India found domestic automakers and local units of global vehicle manufacturers guilty of “anti-competitive conduct” by curbing the number of spare parts and ordered them to “immediately cease-and-desist”.
The commission said in a hefty 215-page report the automakers' actions had made parts unnecessarily costly for around 20 million Indian consumers. Mark-ups on some parts were as high as 4,800 per cent.
The body added some automakers behaved responsibly towards consumers in Western markets but failed to replicate such practices in India, which made their actions “even more deplorable”.
With India's car market now the world's sixth-largest, tighter regulation “is a sign it is maturing,” Deepesh Rathore, director of Delhi-based consultancy Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors, told reporters.
Among the global companies fined were Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and General Motors.
Local companies fined included Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Motors and India's leading vehicle maker, Tata Motors, whose domestic operations are struggling.
Tata Motors, which was slapped with the biggest fine of Rs13.46bn ($223m/£134.40m), said it would appeal.
The competition commission opened its investigation after learning about a spare parts shortage in India.
“The 14 car companies were found to be indulging in practices resulting in denial of market access to independent repairers” and not providing them with branded spare parts,” the commission said.
