CCI Places AB InBev at Centre of Telangana Cartel Investigation

India's Antitrust Agency Targets Anheuser-Busch InBev in Cartel Investigation

India's Competition Commission of India (CCI) has made Anheuser-Busch InBev a target of a cartel investigation after the world's largest brewer cooperated for four years as a witness, leading to a court battle. According to two sources and documents, the CCI has been investigating 42 alcohol retailers in Telangana, India's largest beer-consuming state, for allegedly forming a cartel to exclude AB InBev's rivals, resulting in a surge in market share for the Belgium-based maker of beers including Budweiser and Corona.

The investigation, which began in 2022, led to a raid on AB InBev in 2024. However, no other details had been previously made public due to CCI's rules on its investigation of alleged cartels. In November 2025, AB InBev's status in the case was changed from a third-party to "party under investigation," which the company claims was done without prior notice, hearing, or reasoned order.

A brief court hearing on April 16 resulted in a judge in southern Karnataka state putting the investigation against AB InBev on hold. The court order has not yet been made public, but sources suggest that the court took the decision as it saw merit in AB InBev's concerns. AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the CCI.

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Key Figures in the Case

The case is significant, as making a company a "party under investigation" from a third-party is a drastic change in any case. According to lawyers familiar with the process, this change occurs when investigators feel they have discovered some evidence against an entity. If the CCI succeeds in overturning the court block, AB InBev will be exposed to penalties that could be as much as three times its profit or 10% of the company's turnover for each year of wrongdoing.

India's beer market is worth $10 billion, according to the Brewers Association of India. The case about retailers in Telangana is the toughest regulatory move against the sector since Heineken-controlled United Breweries and Carlsberg were fined more than $100 million collectively in 2021 after being found guilty of price collusion. AB InBev acted as a whistleblower in that case.

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AB InBev's court papers on the Telangana case reveal for the first time CCI's initial views on the allegations. The CCI found merit in allegations that scores of retailers had entered into arrangements among themselves to stock and sell AB InBev beers, and exclude products from Heineken, United Breweries, and Carlsberg. The regulator also said it had found retailers were eligible to receive a special incentive for promoting products of AB InBev exclusively.

AB InBev privately told the CCI that the case should be dismissed as the agency had failed to provide any evidence to show any communication "between the retailers to boycott non-ABI beers." The company continued to cooperate with authorities between 2023 and 2025 and provided sensitive business information, including details of incentives it provided, before realising in November last year it was now itself under investigation.

The company claims that the unilateral action taken by the CCI is "antithetical to the fundamental requirement of fairness."