The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dismissed a complaint against Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, two Adani Group companies, and 7 other entities in an abuse of market dominance case. The CCI had received complaint against the Adani Group companies for alleged violations under Sections 3 (anti-competitive agreements) and Section 4 (abuse of dominance) of the Competition Act, 2002.
Bid Manipulation
The complaint alleged that Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued a solar power tender in 2019 that favoured Adani Enterprises (AEL) and Adani Green Energy (AGEL). The bidding documents were designed in such a fashion that no other bidder could participate but AEL and AGEL, and that Azure Power India (APIPL), which had participated in the bidding, acted as the proxy of AEL and AGEL to reallocate their project capacity later on to AGEL.
“It is alleged that SECI has designed the Request for Selection (RfS) documents to favor top players like AEL, AGEL and APIPL that if no bidders come forward for any of the bid capacity under aforesaid packages, SECI will automatically award remaining capacity to the successful bidders, through the ‘Transferred Capacity’ namely underbidding/undersubscribed capacity under either of the packages,” the order said.
Further, the complainant alleged that the AEL and AGEL collectively dominate the power generation market with 16% or more market share, and through this process has not only abused their market dominance but also created a platform where all other interested power generation companies were ousted from the competition.
Watchdog Findings
While rejecting the complaint, the competition watchdog noted the complainant has not provided any evidence of the RfS documents being designed in a manner that encourages participation of only big players in the market. “It is noted that tender design is made according to specific requirements of the procurer,” the order said.
CCI also noted that stipulating capacity generation and financial eligibility criteria in tenders is a standard practice, and the same cannot be faulted with in the “disputed” RfS merely because the market might have a large number of smaller players as well.
“The Adani Group, prima facie, does not seem to be a dominant player in the power generation market in India. Even in the ‘power generation from renewable sources’ market, other prominent players like Tata Power, JSW Energy and Suzlon Energy are also operating,” the order said.