Intel Sued By CCI Over “Unfair And Discriminatory” Provisions In India

Intel has been sued by Competition Commission of India (CCI) over alleged “unfair and discriminatory” provisions in India. The allegation targets warranty policy of the tech company for boxer micro-processors (BMP), used in self-assembled computers as a Central Processing Unit (CPU).

The accusation was supposed to be made by Matrix Info Systems, an importer and manufacturer for various IT products in India. The company has criticized Intel Corp, as well as its subsidiary -  Intel Technology India - for signing certain agreement with its authorized distributors, giving them the exclusive rights to sell products in the country. 

Intel’s Warranty Policy For India

According to Matrix, Intel has licensed the warranty claims right only to its authorized distributors in India, and any purchases arising from other sources are detached from its after-sales assurances. Especially, the tech company carried out a specific warranty policy for Indian buyers of BMP. These business pursuits have led to the deficiency of consumer choice, as said by the complainant. 

In 2016, Intel implemented a new policy regarding its warranty service. Following that, customers who purchased any Intel products from parallel importers (including those importing directly from international distributors of Intel) didn’t allow to access the warranty service. 

The tech company attributed its regulations to the deficiency in the condition of warranty offered by other resellers or unauthorized importers. However, Matrix contended that Intel had violated Section 4 of the Competition Act, and the company was abusing its market dominance. 

The Investigation Of CCI Over Intel

Although Intel insisted the company’s compatibility with Indian legal regulation, CCI still considered the business schemes of Intel with regard to BMP as “prima-facie” in dominant place. 

Under an investigation, CCI concluded that the tech company is disincentivizing the buying of BMP from its unauthorized distributors, even when Indian customers might get the products at a cheaper rate. Notably, this warranty policy was specifically used in the Indian market, which enlightens Intel’s prima-facie unfair and discriminatory pursuits. 

There will be another investigation carried out by CCI to dig deep into the matter, and the report will be available within 150 days.