Denmark’s Carlsberg and India’s United Breweries have filed pleas with Indian antitrust authorities, seeking leniency in a probe into alleged collusion to fix beer prices, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been investigating the two companies, as well as the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev).
Last year, as previously reported by Reuters, AB InBev told the regulator it had discovered an industry cartel that discussed and agreed on beer prices before submitting them to Indian states, which regulate pricing.
The company’s confidential disclosure under the CCI’s whistleblower-protection scheme led to dawn raids by the regulator in October at offices of all three of the brewers.
In recent weeks, both Carlsberg and United Breweries filed pleas under the CCI’s leniency program, submitting evidence and agreeing to cooperate, the sources said, adding that such cooperation could lead to a smaller fine if wrongdoing is discovered.
A Carlsberg spokesman in India stated it was “cooperating fully with the CCI” and had done so from the beginning of the probe.
United Breweries, part-owned by Heineken, did not respond to requests for comment. Following the Reuters story on the October raids, it told the Indian stock exchanges it was reviewing its legal risks and the potential implications. Heineken declined to comment.
An AB InBev spokesman in India stated they take antitrust compliance “ver
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