The Indian Competition Authority fines 7 advertising enterprises for bid rigging and geographical market allocation (Diamond Display Solutions / AGX Retail Solutions / Opal Signs / Avery Dennison / Amreesh Neon / Macromedia Digital Imaging / Hith Impex)

KEY POINTS Actual participation in the tender is not a mandatory for a finding of bid rigging in terms of the Act. the absence of loss to the tendering authority due to alleged conduct does not rebut the presumption of an appreciable adverse e-ect on competition (“AAEC”). BRIEF FACTS The case was initiated suo moto on the basis of a complaint alleging bid rigging and cartelisation in the tender floated by SBI Infra Management Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (“SBIIMS”) for supply and installation of new signages / replacement of existing signages of SBI branches / o-ces etc. located across India. The complaint, alleged that certain bidders were coordinating and fixing prices of their services and also allocating the market amongst themselves. The Director General (“DG”) upon investigation