CCI rejects abuse of dominant charge against KENT RO Systems

Fair trade regulator CCI has rejected allegations that KENT RO Systems abused its dominant position in the market with respect to supply of spare parts of water purifiers of its brand.
An individual had filed a complaint that KENT RO Systems being a dominant player had through contracts limited the access of independent repairers and other multi-brand service providers to genuine spare parts required to effectively compete with the authorised dealers of the company.
It was also alleged that the company was charging "unusually high price" for the spare parts.
In an order released today, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that "no case is made out against opposite party (KENT RO) for contravention of the provisions of...The (Competition) Act".

The CCI observed that the allegations of the complainant to "the effect that the spare parts of the RO ((Reverse Osmosis) systems of the opposite party are not available in the market, do not appear to be well founded".
"From the information available in the public domain, it appears that the spare parts may be purchased online by the customers," the regulator said.
It also noted that the complainant "has singularly failed to adduce a single document or any pricing data to support the assertion that the prices charged by the opposite party are 'exorbitant' and 'unusually high'".
Kent is one of the leading players RO (Reverse Osmosis) based water purifier market in India.