Answer ... Section 3 of the Competition Act, 2002 prohibits anti-competitive agreements, including cartels. While all kinds of anti-competitive agreements are prohibited under Section 3(1), any agreements which have the following effects are deemed to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition:

• directly or indirectly determining purchase or sale prices;
• limiting or controlling production, supply, markets, technical development, investment or the provision of services;
• sharing markets, sources of production or provision of services, types of goods or services, or number of customers in the market, or any other similar effects; and
• directly or indirectly resulting in bid rigging or collusive bidding.

Cartel investigations are governed by Section 19, read with Sections 26 and 27 of the Competition Act. In addition, the Competition Commission of India (General) Regulations, 2009 set out the procedure for handling investigations into anti-competitive agreements.

Answer ... No special regimes apply to cartels in specific sectors. Prior to 3 July 2021, vessel sharing agreements in the liner shipping industry were excluded from the general prohibition on anti-competitive agreements, including the prohibition on cartels. However, this exemption was not renewed.

Answer ... As per the Competition Act, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is responsible for enforcing the prohibition on cartels.

Answer ... In the past year, the CCI has been very active in investigating and taking action against cartels. In the first three months of 2022, it passed six orders in cartel cases, imposing total penalties of more than INR 600 million on companies.

In 2018, the CCI issued an order against certain players in the tyre industry for “indulging in cartelisation by acting in concert to increase the prices of cross ply/bias tyres variants sold by each of them in the replacement market and to limit and control production and supply in the said market”. While the CCI issued the order in 2018, it was kept under seal cover as per the directions of the Madras High Court and was released only recently.

The CCI also issued a cease-and-desist order against Dumper Truck Union for determining the prices to be charged in concert and for limiting and controlling the provision of services. Before this, the CCI imposed an aggregate fine of INR 630 million on four maritime transport companies.