Cartelisation to be made criminal liability: CCI member

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) today said unfair trade practices like cartelisation by firms will be made a criminal liability.

"Cartelisation will become a criminal offence in future," CCI Member Ratneshwar Prasad said, adding that competition is a question of ethics and morality.

Section 3 of the Competition Act empowers CCI to deal with anti-competitive agreements and cartelisation by companies.

He also said state governments should set up competition authorities, since the Centre was not in a position to address the local issues.

"The Centre cannot do everything. Some issues will have to be tackled at the state level also," Prasad said at an interactive session at Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

The Centre was in the process of formulating a competition policy, he added.

Prasad said CCI has immense powers in comparison with the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission.

He said that abuse of dominance requires some control under a competitive environment.

Although framed in 2002, the Competition Act came into operation in 2009, he said.