The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday said it has fined seven companies that have been found guilty of cartelisation in the supply of protective tubes to the Indian Railways.
The anti-trust watchdog said for this, it has imposed penalties of 5 percent of the average turnover/ income upon the companies and their certain individuals found guilty of violation of rules.
The case was initiated on the basis of a lesser penalty application filed by one of the cartelising entities.
Under Section 46 of the Competition Act, 2002, a cartel member may approach the Commission by way of filing an application seeking lesser penalty, in return for providing full, true and vital disclosures in respect of the alleged cartel to the Commission, it said.
The Commission found these firms to have indulged in “cartelisation in the supply of protective tubes to the Indian Railways by means of directly or indirectly determining prices, allocating tenders, controlling supply and market, co-ordinating bid prices and manipulating the bidding process”.
The evidence in the matter included regular e-mail communications between the parties and filing of bids from same IP addresses by certain parties, the order said.
Further, ten individuals of these seven entities were also held by the CCI to be liable for the anti-competitive conduct of their respective companies/ firms, in terms of the provisions of Section 48 of the Act, it added.
“CCI imposed penalties @5% of the average turnover/ income upon the companies/ firms and their certain individuals found guilty of violating the provisions of the Act. However, benefit of reduction in penalty under the provisions of Section 46 of the Act of 100% was given to the lesser penal-ty applicant. Post reduction, CCI directed the parties to pay penalties totaling to approx. INR 30 lacs, besides issuing a cease-and-desist order,” it added.
