Delhi High Court stays CCI order on Maruti

The Delhi High Court has stayed the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Maruti Suzuki India for allegedly indulging in anti-competitive practices for spare parts and aftersales.

The CCI’s order over 10 days ago levied fines on 13 other companies but said it would deliver another order for Hyundai Motor India, which had obtained a stay order from the Madras High Court. The Delhi High Court says the order will not take effect till Hyundai’s case is disposed off.

In terms of sales numbers, Maruti and Hyundai are No 1 and No 2 in the Indian passenger car market.

The CCI has said the 14 companies on whom it had levied fines had failed to make their spares freely available to car owners. Moreover, it has said that carmakers have marked up spares from as little as 100 percent to even 5,000 percent in some cases.

The Commission said the 14 firms' anti-competition behaviour has affected around 20 million car consumers.

The maximum penalty of Rs 1,346.46 crore has been slapped on Tata Motors, followed by Maruti (Rs 471.14 crore), Mahindra & Mahindra (Rs 292.25 crore) and Toyota Kirloskar Motors (Rs 93.38 crore).

In July last year, the CCI has given 17 OEMs a two-month breather to comply with norms concerning the distribution of spare parts.

The issue came to light when the owner of three car brands visited an independent workshop for repairs and found that genuine parts were not freely available. These workshops did not have the required diagnostic tools as well. He then approached the CCI.

It was also found that OESs were also restrained by OEMs from selling parts in the open market at lower prices.