The Federation of Publishers' and Booksellers' Association in India, or FPBAI, and three of its senior officers have been penalized by the antitrust watchdog for engaging in anticompetitive practices.
The Competition Commission of India, or CCI, found the federation guilty of having engaged in anticompetitive agreements, specifically price fixing and market control, which are prohibited under the 2002 Competition Act.
The commission fined the FPBAI and its three officers — Pradeep Arora, S.C. Sethi and Prashant Jain — collectively 633,000 rupees ($7,626), according to an order it released yesterday.
Beyond the financial penalty, the CCI mandated that the FPBAI actively spread awareness about competition law, withdraw all previous anticompetitive circulars and incorporate the commission's findings into its annual reports and upcoming communications.
The action by the CCI signals a resolute stance against the FPBAI's persistent engagement in anticompetitive practices within the Indian publishing landscape. The ruling underscores the FPBAI's repeated transgression against fair-market operations, because the commission had previously issued a cease-and-desist order against the federation for similar conduct in 2021.
In February 2021, the federation was fined 200,000 rupees for restricting the discount that a bookseller or publisher could offer and for issuing “advisories” directing its members not to participate in advertisements that didn’t meet its conditions. The CCI had also then fined two former presidents of the association 100,000 rupees each.
The current investigation was prompted by a complaint from Pranav Gupta, managing director of Prints Publication, that the FPBAI facilitated cartelization and price fixing within the industry. Some of the key allegations included the federation imposing exchange rates higher than Reserve Bank of India rates for imported books and journals; its capping of discounts offered by members, which is a direct contravention of a prior CCI order; and its control over the supply of books and journals through dictated supply terms, credit regulations and the promotion of exclusive dealings with empaneled vendors.
The FPBAI had argued that the fixing of exchange rates was a legacy practice under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture and Human Resource Development "for stabilizing supply of books and journals, terms and conditions, ensuring fair margin to suppliers and resolution of grievances of libraries such as non-supply."
The CCI, however, in its 45-page order said that the "plea taken by the FPBAI of it being a legacy practice cannot absolve them from the liability of indulging in anticompetitive practices."
Source: MLex
