CEAT and other Tyre stocks trade lower after CCI imposes fine over cartelisation

Tyre company shares fell up to 6% on the BSE in intraday trade on Thursday after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) accused several companies of cartelization and levied penalties.

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The CCI issued a final order against five tyre companies, Apollo Tyres, MRF, CEAT, JK Tyre and Birla Tyres, as well as the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, for engaging in cartelisation by acting in concert to raise the prices of cross-ply/bias tyre variants sold by each of them in the replacement market, as well as to limit and control production and supply in the market.

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The CCI said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by tyre companies challenging the regulator’s order imposing fines for anti-competitive acts.

According to PTI, the watchdog fined Apollo Tyres, MRF, CEAT, Birla Tyres, JK Tyre and the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association a total of Rs 1,788 crore in August 2018.

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At 10:06 a.m., MRF and Apollo Tyres had reversed their intra-day losses and were trading flat. The remaining three equities fell in the range of 1% to 2% on the BSE, compared to a 0.43% drop in the S&P BSE Sensex.

In intraday trade, Ceat fell 6% to a 52-week low of Rs 1,035 among individual stocks. It has dropped below its previous low of Rs 1,051.30, which was reached on January 20, 2022.

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“CCI has imposed a penalty of Rs 252.16 crore on Ceat. The order is being studied for appropriate legal recourse. We strongly reiterate that there has been no wrongdoing on the part of Ceat and want to reassure all the stakeholders that Ceat has never indulged in or as part of any cartel or undertook any anti-competitive practices,” the company said in a statement.