Companies Have Been Charging The Arbitrary Price Of Beer

Companies have been charging the arbitrary price of beer for 11 years, CCI revealed.

The factions have come to the fore between the beer brewing companies Carlsberg, SABMiller, and India’s United Breweries (UB). This has been revealed in a report of the Competition Commission of India.

This report has been viewed by the media. According to this report, the top executives of these three companies shared commercially sensitive information with each other.

According to the report, these three companies fixed the price of beer in India for more than 11 years by mutual alliances and charged an arbitrary price.

In 2018, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) raided the offices of three beer organizations and launched investigations.

The questions that have been revealed in this investigation have raised many questions about these three companies. These three companies account for around 88 percent of India’s seven billion dollar beer market.

However, no final decision has yet arrived in this matter.

Two sources aware of the matter have informed that senior members of CCI will now look into this report and these companies can be fined more than $ 250 million. This report was prepared in March.

In this report, conversations between top officials, WhatsApp messages, and emails have also been kept on record.

According to these negotiation records, these companies have increased prices from time to time in many states by grouping with each other.

According to this CCI report, companies used common forums such as the All India Brewers Association (AIBA) to decide prices together. Local groups then resorted to lobbying on behalf of these companies to increase prices.

This report has revealed that at least three times the officials have sent messages to each other asking them to keep these plans completely secret.

According to the records recorded in this report, in 2016, the Director-General of AIBA had written an email to the officials of these three and said, “We should take care not to get caught.”

This 248-page report of the CCI states that these three companies misled government machinery by mutual factionalism.

At the same time, they were aware that the work they are doing in association with the Association (AIBA) is violating competition law.

The CCI has not responded to queries sent by Reuters in this context. At the same time, AIBA and Carlsberg refused any comment, saying that proceedings in the CCI are going on in this case.