The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a combined penalty of INR1.38 billion (USD14.4 million) on HP India for cartelisation and bid rigging, as well as a INR35 million collective fine on resellers of its technology products.
The CCI was hearing two suo motu cases that arose from an application filed by HP India asking the authority to reduce the penalty imposed in another case for cartelisation.
HP India had dictated bid prices to resellers and manipulated their participation in Government e-Marketplace (GeM) tenders by withholding authorisation, the CCI found. During the proceedings, former HP India employee Manoj Grover had filed his own penalty reduction application and reported the company to the authority.
The authority also imposed penalties on HP India officials and its resellers. However, their details had been redacted from the public copy of the authority’s official orders.
In one case, a penalty of INR1.26 billion was imposed on HP India and a combined penalty of INR12.2 million on five resellers. This case dealt with cartelisation of personal system products including laptops, desktops, monitors, and related accessories and software such as keyboards and mice, etc.
The other case dealt with printers, toners and cartridges, etc., where the CCI imposed a INR119.8 million fine on HP India and a combined penalty of INR23 million on 16 resellers.
