- HP India has been fined 1,420 million rupees (14.7 million dollars) for two separate cases
- The self-report finally cost him lighter fines
- Both cases are related to manipulation of government tenders between 2017 and 2020.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accused HP India and some related resellers of coordinating bids for Indian government contracts on the government e-marketplace.
According to the CCI, the company and some partners manipulated government tenders through predetermined or communicated bid prices, submitting deliberately non-competitive bids to create the appearance of competition, and controlling discounts.
The regulator revealed two separate cases for investigation: one related to PCs and the other related to printing consumables such as ink and toner.
HP accused of participating in manufacturing tenders to win contracts with the Indian government
In the print case, the CCI uncovered emails, witness statements, WhatsApp group conversations and even a 2019 video of a resellers’ meeting. Discussions were found about which companies would present support offers, prices and discounts, and which reseller should win particular contracts.
The CCI stated that a total of 16 Tier 2 resellers had violated its Competition Act through bid rigging, with HP India fined Rs 119.8 million and its resellers fined a combined total of Rs 23 million.
A separate case revealed similar conduct spanning laptops, desktops, workstations, POS systems, peripherals and more. Similarly, five additional resellers were highlighted in addition to HP India’s core businesses, taking the fines in this case to Rs 1,300 crore and Rs 12.2 crore respectively.
The CCI’s final orders bring the total fines imposed on HP India to around Rs 1,420 crore, or $14.7 million, excluding fines imposed on its partners.
But the fine could have been much worse if HP India had not come forward and admitted its wrongdoing between 2017 and 2020, after having filed a minor penalty application to get a discount on the fines.
TechRadar Pro has asked HP for a comment, but we did not receive an immediate response.
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