'CCI slapped Rs 2,675 crore penalty on 169 entities in 10 months'

NEW DELHI: Competition Commission has imposed penalties worth over Rs 2,675 crore on 169 entities in the first 10 months of this year.

The number of penalised entities till October 2014 is the highest in more than four years.

This year till October 31, the fair trade watchdog imposed penalties on 169 entities amounting to more than Rs 2,675.26 crore, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) comes under the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

Starting from 2011 till end of October 2014, CCI has penalised as many as 322 entities and the total fine stood at over Rs 12,473 crore.

In 2011, the watchdog slapped penalties to the tune of more than Rs 687 crore on 38 entities. The next year, 95 entities were penalised with fines worth over Rs 7,276 crore.

As per available data, CCI imposed fine of over Rs 1,834 crore on 20 entities in 2013.

The Competition Appellate Tribunal/courts have dismissed/stayed the recovery of a sum of over Rs 12,178.01 crore as penalty and a sum of more than Rs 216 crore is not yet due/not been paid as penalty so far.

"CCI is taking action as per law for recovery of penalties," Jaitley said.

The regulator, which keeps a tab on anti-competitive activities in the market place across sectors, has made the CCI (Manner of Recovery of Monetary Penalty) Regulations, 2011 regulating the manner in which penalties imposed by it shall be recovered.