CCI probing alleged cartelisation in air fares: Govt

New Delhi: The Competition Commission is investigating whether there is cartelisation among airlines in fixing passenger fares, the government said on Tuesday.

The ongoing investigation by the Commission does not pertain to festive season hike in air fares, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Competition Commission of India (CCI) keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors.

In a suo-moto case regarding cartelisation in passenger fares by airlines, CCI has directed an investigation by its Director General (DG), the Minister said. DG is the investigating arm of the Commission.

The latest probe comes at a time when there are rising concerns about steep fluctuations in the price of air tickets. Earlier also, CCI had looked into alleged cartelisation in fixing of air fares, but did not find any evidence of competition norm violations.

“CCI, suo-moto, instituted a case on allegations that airlines had raised fares together around Diwali season of 2010. The case was closed in January 2012 due to lack of evidence of anti-competitive practices,” Jaitley said.

Responding to a separate query, he said there were 3,309 foreign companies functioning in the country as of August 6. “About 91 per cent of all these foreign companies have their registered addresses in Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

“In undivided Andhra Pradesh, 73 foreign companies were active. Of these, nine foreign companies have registered addresses in Andhra Pradesh,” the Minister said.