CCI rejects complaint against realtor Genius Propbuild

Anti-trust watchdog CCI has dismissed allegations that real estate firm Genius Propbuild abused its dominant position by imposing unfair conditions in apartment buyer's agreement.
It was alleged that unfair terms and conditions were imposed with regard to housing residential complex 'Avalon Rangoli' in Alwar district of Rajasthan.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected the complaint after finding that the company was not dominant in the respective real estate market.
To assess whether the entity has abused its dominance, the regulator considered "provision of services for development and sale of residential apartments or flats in Bhiwadi and its nearby areas" as the relevant market.

According to CCI, there are other real estate players rendering similar services and developing projects comparable to that of Genius Propbuild in terms of size and resources.
As per the Competition Act, an enterprise could be regarded as dominant if it enjoys a position of strength that enables it to operate independently of competitive forces prevailing in the relevant market.
"The presence of a number of other players indicates that the buyers have options to choose from similar projects of other developers in the relevant market... In the absence of dominance, the question of examination of abuse of dominance does not arise," the regulator said in a recent order.