Draft issued by Competition Commission of India (CCI) seeks to reform methodology for determining costs associated with allegations of predatory pricing, a type of anti-competitive practice.
- Predatory pricing is the sale of goods or services “below the cost of production”, with the intent to reduce or eliminate competition.
Other forms of anti-competitive Practices
- Price fixing: When competitors agree to set prices at a certain artificially high level instead of competing on price.
- Patent misuse: Use of patents to block competition, like buying patents just to sue other companies.
- Collusive bidding: Companies collude to control the outcome of bidding processes, often in government or large corporate contracts.
- Tying and bundling: A company might require customers to buy one product only if they also buy another product to leverage market power in one product to gain advantage in another.
- E.g., Bundling of MS Word, MS Excel, etc. under the Microsoft Office.
Governance framework to uphold Competition in India
- Legislations: Competition Act (2002), Consumer Protection Act (2019), Intellectual Property Laws (Patents Act, 1970 & Copyright Act, 1957), etc.
- Institutions: Competition Commission of India, sectoral regulators such as TRAI, SEBI, IRDAI, etc.
