Deceptive claims: CCP imposes Rs40m fine on Al-Ghazi Tractors

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 40 million on a tractor manufacturing company for making deceptive claims about fuel efficiency having serious financial consequences for small farmers.

In a detailed final order passed by a two-member bench comprising Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu (Chairman) and Salman Amin (Member), the Commission found that Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited (AGTL) advertisement published on January 24, 2022, falsely claimed that its new Holland tractor models offered “up to 30 percent extra diesel savings compared to any competitor’s tractors.”

The misleading claim was widely circulated in media and referenced a report by the Agriculture Mechanization Research Institute (AMRI), Multan, giving it an air of official credibility. However, the Commission’s investigation revealed that AMRI never endorsed the claim, nor did its report support the fuel-saving comparison being advertised. In rural Pakistan—where over 60% of the population relies on agriculture—tractors are long-term investments, and such exaggerated claims can have serious financial consequences for small farmers.

These communities are particularly vulnerable to misleading advertisements due to limited access to technical verification or alternative sources of information. A 30 percent fuel-saving claim could mean thousands of rupees of projected savings to a farmer—yet no such advantage existed.

After receiving complaints from stakeholders and conducting a thorough investigation, the CCP determined that the AMRI report only compared AGTL tractors to those of one other manufacturer (Millat Tractors) in limited settings.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025