SC clips penal powers of CCI, says penalty should be on 'relevant market turnover'

The Supreme Court has curbed powers of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) saying that penalty that the anti-trust body levies can only be a percentage of ‘relevant market turnover’ and not of the ‘total turnover’, as it does currently.

The CCI powers to levy fines might be limited and could impact the pending cases with the Supreme Court and the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT).

In previous cases, CCI had put penalty on basis of total turnover of the three agro-chemical companies. In 2013, COMPAT changed this penalty to ‘relevant turnover’.

Following this, CCI had moved the Supreme Court in 2014.