3 OMCs, 17 sugar mills in CCI net for cartelisation

Fair trade regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered probe into the alleged bid-rigging (or collusive bidding) by around 17 sugar mills including  Balrampur Chini and Bajaj Hindustan to name a few.

The watchdog has also ordered probe against Indian Sugar Mills Association Ethanol Manufacturers Association of India and National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories, say sources. Read This:  CCI rejects complaint of cartelisation in a Rlys tender
The CCI suspects more cases of bid rigging like agreements to submit
identical bids, agreements as to who shall submit the lowest bid, voluntarily inflate bids and agreements not to bid against each other.
The competition watchdog has also ordered investigation into oil marketers including Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Corp which should have reported irregularities of identical bidding by sugar mills which supply ethanol the former.
According to the terms of the tender document floated by Bharat Petroleum early this year, all vendors are covered by the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002, and the company can disclose any anti-competitive information to the CCI.
There are reports that ethanol suppliers may have indulged in anti-competitive practices by submitting similar/identical bids, which works out to be in the range of Rs 35-36/ litre for supplying of ethanol to oil marketing companies.
Also, according to insiders, a few bidders from north India have submitted identical bid amount while ethanol makers from Maharashtra have together quoted a price of around Rs 40-41/litre, thereby collectively jacking up the base price from Rs.27 per litre as fixed by the government.