Rs 200 crore fine on Maruti Suzuki’s : Maruti Suzuki’s sales policy was against the interest of customers and provisions under the Competition Act

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The matter came to light after an anonymous complaint was filed by an auto dealer in 2017

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The dealer had indicated that Maruti Suzuki’s sales policy was against the interest of customers and provisions under the Competition Act

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In the complaint, the person indicated that Maruti car dealers in some parts of Maharashtra were not allowed to give discounts to their customers beyond a limit outline by the carmaker.

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Dealers found giving extra discounts were penalised, as per the complaint.

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The CCI found this objectionable and stated the same in its order. According to the competition regulator, any dealer found violating MSIL’s discount control policy agreement was threatened with the imposition of penalty.

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“Not only upon the dealership, but also upon its individual persons, including Direct Sales Executive, Regional Manager, Showroom Manager, Team Leader etc," the CCI said in a statement.

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It found out that MSIL not only “imposed the discount control policy on its dealers, but also monitored dealers through MSAs, imposing penalties on them and threatening strict action like stoppage of supply, collecting and recovering penalty and utilisation of the same”.

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“Hence, such conduct of MSIL which resulted in an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India, ” it said.