The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today stayed an order of the Competition Commission that imposed a penalty of ₹171.55 crore on Eveready Industries for cartelisation in pricing of zinc-carbon dry cell batteries.
According to a notification to the bourses, Eveready claimed that the imposition of penalty was stayed “with the direction of depositing 10 per cent of the penalty amount within 15 days” with the Registry of the NCLAT.
The fair trade regulator (CCI) had found three battery manufacturers, namely Eveready, Panasonic and Nippo, facilitated by Association of Indian Dry Cell Manufacturers (AIDCM) – the association – had indulged in anti-competitive conduct of price co-ordination, limiting production/supply as well as market allocation in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Law.
Accordingly, a fine of ₹245.07 crore, ₹74.68 crore, ₹52.82 crore was imposed on the three dry-cell battery makers. However, subsequently, the CCI reduced the fines on the three.
While in case of Panasonic the penalty was brought down by 100 per cent, Eveready’s penalty was reduced by 30 per cent to ₹171.55 crore and in case of Nippo it was reduced by 20 per cent to ₹42.26 crore.