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ARTICLE · 10 JANUARY 2019

CCI Penalizes Battery Manufacturers' Admitted Cartel - Decides Its Second Leniency Case

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The inquiry was initiated by the CCI pursuant to leniency application filed by Panasonic under the Leniency Regulations.

IndiaAntitrust/Competition Law
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Article by MM Sharma, Head Competition Law & Policy Practice, Vaish Associates, Advocates, New Delhi, India

Competition Commission of India (CCI) by an order dated 19 April 2018, in its second decision on a leniency application, has awarded a 100 (One Hundred) per cent reduction in penalty to the leniency applicant, Panasonic Energy India Co. Ltd ("Panasonic") in a case involving a hard- core cartel in respect of zinc carbon dry batteries in India. The cartel involved price co-ordination in the entire distribution chain, limiting and controlling of production and supply as well as allocation of markets.

Background – The inquiry was initiated by the CCI pursuant to leniency application filed by Panasonic under the Leniency Regulations. The leniency applicant submitted that Eveready Industries India Limited (Eveready), Indo National Limited (Nippo) and Panasonic, engaged in the business of inter alia manufacture and supply of zinc-carbon dry cell

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