Comments
JSW Paints plans to move the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against an order by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) quashing its allegations of Asian Paints using its dominant position to scuttle JSW Paints’ entry into the market.
AS Sundaresan, Joint MD & CEO of JSW Paints, said the CCI, following an investigation and through its order, has confirmed that Asian Paints is in a dominant position in the decorative paints market. The order also reaffirms JSW Paints’ view that dealers do not have any countervailing buying power and are at the mercy of Asian Paints, he added.
‘To protect consumer interest’
“We do not agree with the order ... we are currently reviewing it and will take appropriate steps to protect the interests of our customers and dealers for a free and fair market,” he said.
The CCI had corroborated certain valid points raised by JSW Paints and it will move NCLAT sooner than later, said a senior lawyer closely following the development.
The backstory
In its complaint with the CCI, JSW Paints had alleged that immediately after the launch of its decorative paints, Asian Paints began pressurising dealers who had agreed to stock and display decorative paints manufactured by JSW Paints. Asian Paints targeted dealers, distributors and retailers partnering with JSW Paints, directing them to stop dealing with the latter, stopping supplies, dropping service levels and threatening dealers by not allowing them discretionary discounts.
Such conduct has been alleged to have created fear among retailers and dealers, as a result of which a number of them stopped dealing with JSW Paints despite having provided the initial cheque of ₹1 lakh, it said.
However, CCI in its order last Friday said all the allegations appear to be misconceived and motivated. Asian Paints’ conduct did not show any abnormal trends in terms of orders serviced for any specific dealer during the period of 13 months, said the CCI order rejecting JSW Paints’ allegations.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.