Case Law Details
Samaleshwari Automobiles Vs Tata Motors Ltd. and Another (Competition Commission of India)
Commission notes that the Informant has primarily alleged that the OPs have imposed unfair and discriminatory terms and conditions in the Dealership Agreement in respect of passenger/utility category of vehicles, besides indulging in anti-competitive practices, which put the Informant’s company in a deep financial crisis, constraining the Informant to terminate the Dealership Agreement dated 26.12.2012.
At the outset, the Commission notes that the last agreement between the Informant and OP-1, i.e., the Dealership Agreement dated 26.12.2012, was executed on 26.12.2012 for a period of 5 years, which expired on 31.03.2017.
Thereafter, as per the averments made in the Information, the Informant did not execute any further agreement but continued to do business with OP-1 till 06.12.2019, when the Informant expressed its unwillingness to OP-1 to continue with the dealership of OP-1. Thus, it is evident that the Dealership Agreement expired as early as 2017 and in any event in 2019 if the averments made by the Informant regarding continued business with OP-1 post-expiry of the Agreement is taken into account, whereas the present Information was moved in December 2021.
Be that as it may, the Commission has perused the Information and the documents filed therewith. As regards contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act, the Informant has not provided or delineated any proposed relevant market. In this regard, the Commission notes that Informant was an authorised dealer of OP-1 for the period 2005–2017 for the sale of various models of passenger vehicles and their variants, including spare parts and accessories. Further, considering that commercial vehicles are separate from other categories of vehicles such as passenger or utility vehicles on issues such as speed, mileage, appearance, engine capacity, usage, etc., the relevant product market in the present matter for assessing the impugned conduct may be taken as “market for manufacture and sale of passenger vehicles”. Furthermore, as the conditions of demand and supply of passenger vehicles do not differ from one region to another, the relevant geographic market may be taken as “India”. Based on the above, the Commission is of the view that the relevant market in the instant matter appears to be “market for manufacture and sale of passenger vehicles in India”.
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