CCI finds no abuse of dominant position by Indian Railways, IRCTC

Fair trade regulator CCI has absolved Indian Railways and its arm Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) of allegations of unfair market practices.

The order came after the regulator in November 2018, ordered a detailed probe into the allegations of abuse of dominant market position against Ministry of Railways and IRCTC for charging higher price than actual base fare on the sale of e-tickets.

The complainants -- Meet Shah and Anand Ranpara -- had alleged that Indian Railways and IRCTC abused their dominant position by charging higher price than actual base fare for the sale of e-tickets in contravention of Section 4 of the Act.

It was alleged that the two entities round off the actual base fare to the nearest higher multiple of Rs 5 to arrive at the total base fare, and the practice amounted to an imposition of unfair condition in the market for sale of rail tickets in India, particularly for online booking.

After taking into consideration the investigation report, CCI concluded that "the Commission is convinced that in the facts of the present case, no case of contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act arise against OP-1 and OP-2."
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) noted that the policy of rounding off of fares has been "stated to be duly backed by commensurate social and commercial justification and thus such conduct cannot be classified as exploitative abuse by a dominant enterprise."