- HP India fined 1.42 billion rupees ($14.7 million) over two separate cases
- Self-declaration ultimately earned him lighter fines
- The two cases concern manipulation of government tenders between 2017 and 2020.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accused HP India and certain associated resellers of coordinating bids for Government of India contracts in the government e-marketplace.
According to the CCI, the company and certain partners manipulated government tenders by using predetermined or communicated bid prices, submitting intentionally non-competitive bids to create the appearance of competition, and controlling discounts.
The regulator has revealed two separate cases under investigation – one involving PCs and the other involving printing consumables like ink and toner.
HP accused of making manufacturing bids to win Indian government contracts
In the printing case, the CCI discovered emails, witness statements, WhatsApp group chats and even a 2019 video of a dealers’ meeting. Discussions took place around which companies would submit bids, supporting pricing and discounts, and which reseller should win particular contracts.
The CCI said a total of 16 Tier 2 resellers had violated its competition law by rigging bids, with HP India fined Rs 119.8 million and its resellers fined a total of Rs 23 million.
Another case revealed similar behavior involving laptops, desktops, workstations, point-of-sale systems, peripherals and more. Similarly, five additional resellers have been brought to the fore in addition to HP India’s core businesses, taking the total fines in this case to Rs 1.3 billion and Rs 12.2 million respectively.
The CCI’s final orders bring the total fines imposed on HP India to approximately 1.42 billion rupees, or $14.7 million, excluding fines imposed on its partners.
But the fine could have been much worse if HP India had not admitted its wrongdoing between 2017 and 2020, after submitting a request for a lesser penalty to get itself a reduction on the fines.
TechRadar Pro requested comment from HP, but we did not receive an immediate response.
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