CCI for threshold limit of cos to go up according to inflationary trends

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has urged the government that the threshold limit of companies coming under its purview should be increased for adjusting with the inflation rates.

R Prasad, a CCI member on the sidelines of an interactive session on competition law and policy, organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said there is a provision in the Competition Act 2002, which states that adjustments in threshold limit should be made according to inflationary trends.

?We have written to the government asking to notify an adjusted threshold limit. But the notification hass not yet been issued by the government,? Prasad said.

He said the threshold limit was decided in 2002 and ?is kept as it is? without any change for eight years.

The Competition Act of 2002, enacted in 2003, had kept a threshold limit of Rs 1000 crore worth of combined assets of a firm and Rs 3000 crore turnover to come under the purview of the CCI.

Prasad said although the function of the CCI was to encourage competition but excess competition could be deterrent sometime. The competition in the telecommunication sector in India was replicating the competition in the US banking sector post economic meltdown. ? But we cannot stop excess competition because we are asked to promote competition,? Prasad said.

He said there has been around 40 complaints registered so far involving big wigs like the rail, telecommunication and external affairs ministries. While five cases are at final stages, around 23-25 cases are under investigation.

According to Prasad, there have been complaints about direct to home (DTH) service providers laying conditions of buying the service provider-specified antenna and set top boxes even though it was not always necessary. Say a service taker of Dish TV wanting to switch over to Tata Sky can use the same set top box, which he was using while taking the Dish TV service. But the Tata Sky service provider makes him to buy the set top box provided by Tata Sky only which is not at all required. A DTH service provider should operate like a mobile telephone service provider enabling the customer to only change the sim card without requiring to alter the hand set. The CCI has given a judgment in this direction on a case filed by a consumers’ protection group in Delhi against a DTH service provider.

He said although the Consumer Protection Act and Competition Act should have come under the same umbrella, which is in vogue in most of the countries, it has not happened like that in India.