MRTPC may probe cartels in shipping, transport, tyre industries

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

28 Dec 2007

The government may ask competition watchdog MRTPC to investigate and take appropriate action against cartels in shipping, transport and tyre industry, Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said on Thursday. "We are getting reports which indicate cartelisation in shipping, transport and tyre industry. Once we get actionable evidence we can ask Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission to investigate and take appropriate action," Gupta told PTI.He said MRTPC has already taken action against cement companies and their association CMA for forming a cartel to raise prices. He said the MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR has also initiated probe against GSM mobile firms on tariff hike.DGIR is probing Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular after the companies raised tariffs in a span of a few days earlier this year. Ministry officials, however, said they do not have any concrete evidence so far and added that proving cartelisation was a difficult task.