CCI rejects plea to delink penalty from global turnover
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected stakeholders' plea opposing the new, more stringent monetary penalty framework for antitrust activities where the maximum penalty would be linked to the global turnover of a firm.
The stakeholders wanted the imposition of penalty «to be based on relevant turnover/relevant profit in line with Excel Crop judgment» of the Supreme Court, the regulator said in a «general statement».
The CCI issued the statement after it notified on Wednesday its new regulations, moving on from the earlier regime of pegging the maximum penalty to a firm's turnover in the relevant market where the abuse of law has taken place.
The statement dated March 6 contains the regulator's take on the inputs submitted by 25 stakeholders on the draft Turnover or Income Regulations, 2023. The CCI had placed the draft on its website for public comments between December 22 and January 25.
The statement also said the stakeholders had sought exclusion of intra-group sales, «other income» and export turnover of a firm while calculating penalty. The regulator has now excluded intra-group sales and other income but it did not offer any relief on the demand to keep exports out of the calculations. The latest move is seen as boosting the regulator's chances of curbing antitrust activities involving multinational firms, including the Big Tech, as the maximum penalty amount would be significantly higher under the new regime. As per the new provision, the total penalty will be up to 10% of the relevant firm's
