Excise dept slaps notice to Honda on cost and price

Many people in the industry felt that the notices were being issued to a slew of automakers like Tata Motors , Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Ashok Leyland , Ford etc mostly from Pune and Chennai belt. Sources have now indicated that this is not a region-specific issue but is having pan India ramifications.  

The question is, after Honda receiving inquiry from the excise department, will the focus now shift to other large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are based in the North belt, especially towards Gurgaon-Manesar belt where the country's largest carmaker Maruti is based.    

Earlier, the excise department has asked for similar records from Tata Motors and other companies, and now they are asking similar inputs like details on costing and pricing of the models from Honda.

The basic reason for this exercise notice is to see if the company had under priced any of their models and whether the excise duty was computed on the artificially under-priced product. The SCE order brought in a new interpretation of the transaction value, so we have to wait and watch. However, Honda officially declined to comment on this issue.