CCI rejects complaint of unfair business practices against SPMCIL, Security Paper Mill

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected a complaint of alleged anti-competitive practices made against Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) and Security Paper Mill.

The complaint pertained to alleged abuse of dominant position by the entities with respect to a tender for procuring bearings by way of inserting discriminatory conditions.

Disposing of the complaint, the watchdog said it was of the opinion that "there exists no prima facie case" of violation of competition norms. For the case, the market for industrial bearings in India was considered as the relevant one.

"The Commission observes that the OPs do not appear to be the only buyers in the market for the relevant product and the market in some sense seems to be fragmented.

"Moreover, bearings are widely used in many industries including automobile, agriculture, earth moving equipment, energy and power industries, manufacturing plants units and not by the OPs alone," the regulator said in a 10-page order dated November 12.

SPMCIL and Security Paper Mill are the Opposite Parties (OPs) in the case.

The regulator noted that the OPs cannot be said to be a monopsonist or a buyer with significant market power in view of the fact that bearings are of wide variety and usage across different industries. There are numerous buyers and sellers of this product in the market and some of the bearings are even imported into India, it added.

According to the order, the case at hand pertains to the procurement of bearings and related accessories by an enterprise which happens to be a public sector undertaking.

"... the Commission further notes that in a given case the procurer/ consumer, based on its requirement and other commercial considerations, has the right to specify the kind of product, quantity thereof, timelines, mode and the manner in which it requires the same; and the same cannot be dictated by the bidders/ suppliers," the order said.