The so-called "parallel import" in the markets of certain regions is not formed from a good life. When official suppliers hold higher prices, the consumer involuntarily reaches out to alternative sources, expressing a willingness to lose in the quality of warranty and service support in order to save money at the stage of purchasing the product. A similar situation has developed in India, the resource notes. . Local consumers are not always ready to pay for Intel processors offered by official distributors and prefer to save money by purchasing them either abroad or from "parallel importers".
As of 2016, Intel has changed its warranty policy for processors sold in the Indian market. Local consumers should apply for a warranty not to sellers, but directly to Intel service centers, of which there are not so many in the entire densely populated country. Furthermore, the warranty is only supported for processors purchased from authorized Intel partners. If the user purchased the processor through "gray" channels or abroad, he will not be able to use the Intel warranty support in India.
This practice has already attracted the attention of India's competition authority, the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The current warranty service practice, in the opinion of this body, infringes the rights not only of consumers, but also of other market participants who are not authorized partners of Intel. The last of the companies countered that the current warranty policy was in place to protect Indian buyers from counterfeit and used processors that were brought into the country through unofficial channels.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that authorized Intel partners in India sell processors at prices that are on average 2,6 times higher than prices in Japan, the United States and Germany. The company itself does not set final retail prices, it only makes recommendations to its Indian partners, and also determines which of them can be considered the official supplier of processors to the country. However, the price imbalance is obvious. In their comments, Intel told Tom's Hardware that the company respects fair competition by providing equal support to its partners around the world. Intel actively cooperates with the Indian antitrust authorities, calling its business strategy legal and supportive of competition.
Source: 3dnews.ru