India: 'No evidence of cartelisation in tyre industry'

'No evidence of cartelisation in tyre industry' is the headline in India's Business Standard. The Competition Commission found no evidence of cartel activity among accused tyre makers, and closed its file, which sounds a little more generous than the way the Office of Fair Trading does things (or, I should say, did them: practice might have changed since I last had a cartel investigation case on my desk, but then the OFT's grudging closing of the investigation implied that they had merely been unable to prove what they seemed certain was happening). It sounds as if, like the case I was involved with a few years ago, it's not easy to distinguish the behaviour of a cartel from that of a bunch of rational oligopolists.

The All India Tyre Dealers’ Federation has already let it be known that it will appeal. One member of the CCI dissented from the ruling, which suggests that an appeal might have some legs, and it also appears that the official in charge of the investigation was convinced of there being wrong-doing. Another space to watch.

There is, it hardly needs to be said, a great deal of activity about cartel activity in the markets for component parts for cars: we seem to have been reporting various investigations, rulings and penalties for quite a while now, and in several different countries. Competition law has come on a long way in recent years.