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The Competition Commission of India issued a press release stating that it had granted leniency to three dry cell battery manufacturers in a cartel investigation. One of the subject companies, Panasonic, received full 100% leniency. I believe that this may be the first time that a company has received 100% credit for reporting and cooperating in a CCI investigation. (I invite my friends in India to comment or elaborate.) Below is an excerpt from the document, and the full press release can be found here.
CCI issues important order under Lesser Penalty Provisions in the cartel case by leading Indian Zinc-Carbon Dry Cell Battery Manufacturers
The Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’) passed final order imposing penalty on three leading Indian zinc-carbon dry cell battery manufacturers – Eveready Industries India Ltd. (‘Eveready’), Indo National Ltd. (‘Nippo’), Panasonic Energy India Co. Ltd. (‘Panasonic’) and their association AIDCM (Association of Indian Dry Cell Manufacturers) for colluding to fix prices of zinc-carbon dry cell battery in India. CCI invoked the provisions of Section 46 of the Competition Act, 2002 (‘the Act’) read with the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009 (‘Lesser Penalty Regulations’) to reduce the penalty imposed upon Panasonic, Eveready and Nippo by 100 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent respectively.
Thanks for reading. Bob Connolly