CCI rejects complaint against Britannia Industries

The Competition Commission has dismissed allegations of unfair business practices made against Britannia Industries, the maker of popular biscuit brands Britannia and Tiger.
Tamilnadu Consumer Products Distributors Association had filed a complaint against Britannia Industries and Britannia Dairy Pvt Ltd.
It was alleged that the entities abused their dominant position and among others, did not allow their distributors to deal with any other biscuit manufacturing company even through their sister concerns.
Rejecting the complaint, CCI said there is no contravention of Section 4 in the Competition Act that pertains to abuse of dominant position.
For the case, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) considered "market for biscuits in India" as the relevant one.

While Britannia is a prominent biscuit brand in the country, there is presence of other organised and unorganised players, CCI said. The organised players include ITC, Parle and Priya Gold while there are foreign brands as well.

"These competitors of opposite parties (Britannia Industries and Britannia Dairy) have comparable size and resources and also offer different categories/range of biscuits," the regulator noted.
"Presence of such players indicates that the buyers have options to choose in the relevant market. Thus, it is found that market for biscuits, including each of the segments therein, exhibits intense competition and opposite parties do not possess sufficient market power to act independently of competitive forces prevailing in the relevant market."

CCI also observed that market segmentation and offering special rates/discounts on the basis of sale volumes per se cannot be regarded as anti-competitive.
"The other bakery and dairy products supplied by opposite parties viz. Cakes, rusk, milk, ghee, cheese, butter, etc face intense competition from organised and un-organised local players; and the business of opposite parties in these segments appears to be relatively insignificant," the order dated March 29 said.
"Accordingly, it does not merit making assessment of dominant position in respect of these products and it can reasonably be presumed that the conduct of opposite parties in relation to these products cannot be considered as contravention.