The Indian Competition Commission of India issued a substantial penalty against HP India and associated channel partners this week for engaging in coordinated pricing and bid manipulation schemes. The total fines amounted to 1.4 billion rupees, with HP India itself receiving 1.3 billion rupees in penalties and 21 resellers receiving 35.2 million rupees in fines combined.
The regulator determined that HP India had collaborated with five reseller partners to coordinate bids for government contracts involving computers and printing supplies, including ink cartridges, toner, and graphic manufacturing equipment. According to the CCI order, resellers had requested HP’s assistance in various anticompetitive practices, such as restricting participation by resellers from other regions, dividing accounts among themselves, and submitting cover bids to manipulate competitive processes.
WhatsApp records presented evidence of collusive arrangements between HP India and 16 Tier-2 resellers spanning the period from 2017 to 2020. The communications documented bid rigging, price fixing, and customer allocation schemes among the parties. HP India argued that it was commercially pressured into supporting these arrangements because high printing supply prices were causing resellers to threaten switching to counterfeit products to remain competitive.
While HP India objected to characterizations of its role as a dominant orchestrator of the collusive scheme, the CCI found sufficient evidence to impose the penalties. The regulator ordered all parties involved to cease anticompetitive conduct and mandated that HP India and its channel partners complete competition compliance training programs within 60 days. HP India has not issued a public response regarding the fines.
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