The company additionally fined 21 HP resellers 35.2 million rupees (about $365,335).
In a separate order, the CCI stated that WhatsApp data confirmed that HP and 16 of its Tier-2 reseller companions operated “in a collusive association” and that the messages present the businesses partaking in “bid rigging, together with cowl bidding, worth fixation, and buyer allocation throughout 2017–2020.” HP India performed a central function, the regulator stated.
Per the order, HP India stated that top printing provide costs led some resellers to threaten to “shift to low-cost counterfeit merchandise to compete on worth.”
“HP India was commercially pressured right into a place the place it needed to help the collusive association adopted by the Tier-2 resellers,” the order reads.
For its half, the order stated that HP India “humbly objects to HP India’s function being characterised as a ‘kingpin’ of your entire collusive association.”
Still, the revelation that some HP resellers are fighting the exorbitant worth of printer ink and toner underscores an issue many printer customers face. The financial problem is exacerbated by HP’s tendency to dam third-party ink in already-purchased printers by way of firmware updates. At the identical time, with even its personal companions threatening to take their ink enterprise elsewhere, HP is pressured to get extra HP printer customers to solely use HP-brand ink and toner.
The CCI additionally ordered HP India and its channel companions to “stop and desist from anti-competitive conduct” and to carry competitors compliance coaching packages inside 60 days.
HP hasn’t publicly commented on the fines.
