Eveready plunges 12% on Rs 172 crore CCI fine

NEW DELHI: Shares of the leading battery manufacturer Eveready Industries plunged as much as 12.5 per cent in the intraday trade on Friday after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed fine on the company.

The fair trade regulator on Thursday imposed a total fine of Rs 215 crore on Eveready, Indo National, industry grouping AIDCM and their officials for cartelisation in the pricing of zinc-carbon dry cell batteries.

The matter was taken up suo-moto by CCI pursuant to an application filed by Panasonic Energy India in May 2016 under the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, PTI reported.


Eveready Industries India has to pay a fine of Rs 171.55 crore while the penalty on its officials is Rs 53.41 lakh. In the case of Indo National, the fine is Rs 42.26 crore on the company and Rs 29.57 lakh on the officials.

"As regards the penalty to be imposed... the Commission observes that the manufacturers have accepted that they had an understanding/ arrangement with each other to cartelise in the zinc-carbon dry cell battery in the domestic market," CCI said.

Eveready Industries in its BSE filing said it will take appropriate action after examining the order fully.

At 02:13 pm, shares of the company were trading at Rs 323 apiece on BSE, down 11.76 per cent.