BASF, others raided in India over alleged vegetable seeds price fixing
India’s antitrust watchdog on Wednesday raided local offices
of several vegetable seed companies including a unit of Germany’s BASF in a
case related to alleged price collusion.
Competition Commission of India (CCI) officials were raiding
offices of BASF India and at least three other vegetable seed companies in an
operation across the country that included the satellite city of Gurugram near
New Delhi, IT hub Bengaluru and the southern city of Hyderabad, the sources
said.
A spokesperson for BASF India confirmed the raids at Nunhems
office, based in Gurugram. “We are yet to confirm the exact reason of the raid.
We are strictly committed to high standards of legal compliance and business
ethics. We will support the officials in every way possible,” she said.
After Reuters published details of the raid, shares in BASF
India extended losses to as much as 3.7%, before recouping some of them to
close down 2.1% in Mumbai trading.
The CCI did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The names of the other companies being raided were not
immediately clear.
Further details of the case and the raids were also not
available, as the CCI does not make anything related to its investigations of
alleged price cartels public.
In recent years, the antitrust watchdog has raided several
companies in case of alleged price fixing, including the likes of beer giant
Carlsberg and commodities trader Glencore.
Typically during such surprise raids, company officials are
questioned and documents, as well as computer hard disks, are seized, which are
analysed by the watchdog later as its investigation progresses.
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