In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld findings that three agrochemical manufacturers—Excel Crop Care, United Phosphorus, and Sandhya Organics—violated the Competition Act by engaging in collusive bidding for aluminium phosphide tablets tenders. The Court held that Section 3 applied to the March 2009 tender despite pre-dating the section's May 2009 enforcement, as the bidding process continued afterward. Investigations into a 2011 boycotted tender were also permitted. On merits, a decade-long pattern of identical pricing, differing cost structures, and collective tender boycotts evidenced a cartel. The Court rejected penalties based on total company turnover, instead adopting 'relevant turnover' (product-specific) to ensure proportionality and prevent punishing non-infringing products, particularly for multi-product companies.
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