HP Gets A Bit Of A Fine For Their ‘Cartelization’ Of Printer Cartridges

Maybe India Will Help HP Get Over Their Habit

Printer ink cartridges and have been a sore spot for years thanks to the over the top behaviour of the companies that sell them.  They are priced so high it usually makes more sense to toss out a printer when the ink runs out and to buy a new one as that will cost you less than buying an official replacement cartridge.  It’s not like you can refill them yourself thanks to HP and others putting in sensors that will block printing if a refilled or unofficial cartridge is detected.  They’ve also dabbled with artificially killing ink cartridges after a certain amount of time, which has not gone well for them; not that they have stopped trying.

The Competition Commission of India is the latest to take umbrage over HP’s ink cartridge shenanigans.  HP was just fined 1.3 billion rupees (about $13.1 million) price fixing, after being caught working with “five resellers to coordinate their bid prices for government contracts”.  In addition HP was fined another 119.8 million rupees (about $1.2 million) for “indulging in cartelization in sale and supply of supplies products comprising of toner, cartridges, and other consumable used with print hardware products“.

Along with HP themselves, the Competition Commission fined 21 HP resellers 35.2 million rupees (about $365,335).  

HP earned $14.4 billion in Q2 of 2026, so $14.3 million isn’t a huge amount for them but it does have an effect on their bottom line.  We can  hope that this decision has some positive impact on HP’s ink cartridge business, and that other countries will follow suit.