The Competition Commission of India announced this week that it has levied penalties totaling 1.4 billion rupees against HP India and affiliated reseller partners for anticompetitive practices involving the coordination of pricing and bidding strategies.
According to the CCI’s findings, HP India collaborated with approximately five resellers to synchronize their bid prices for government contracts, thereby increasing the likelihood that an HP-affiliated partner would secure such agreements. The arrangement allegedly involved multiple anticompetitive tactics, including restrictions on reseller participation from other territories, division of accounts and tender opportunities among participating partners, limitations on manufacturer authorization forms issued to competing resellers, coordination to address underbidding competitors, and the submission of cover bids. HP India received a fine of 1.3 billion rupees for its role in this coordination scheme. Additionally, HP faced a separate penalty of 119.8 million rupees related to cartelization in the sale and supply of toner, cartridges, and other consumables used with printing hardware. The CCI also assessed fines of 35.2 million rupees against 21 HP resellers involved in the arrangements.
A separate CCI order addressed collusive conduct between HP and 16 Tier-2 resellers during a period spanning 2017 through 2020, with WhatsApp communications serving as evidence of bid rigging, price fixing, and customer allocation practices. HP India disputed characterizations of its role as the primary orchestrator of these arrangements, though acknowledged that elevated printing supply costs had prompted certain resellers to consider shifting toward lower-cost counterfeit products.
The regulator has directed HP India and its channel partners to discontinue all anticompetitive activities and mandated the completion of competition compliance training programs within 60 days. HP has not issued a public statement regarding the fines.
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