The Supreme Court on Friday admitted the appeal of Reliance Industries Ltd against the order of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Commission asking it to desist in future from the restrictive trade practice of giving quantity discounts to some of the buyers of purified terepthalic acid (PTA).
The director general of the commission conducted an enquiry when it received six letters complaining that the company had discriminated against some of the smaller buyers of PTA. They alleged that while some buyers received quantity discounts (discounts linked to the offtake or volume of purchase by a buyer), others never got the benefit.
Thus, the company discriminated between various buyers of PTA in the matter of grant of such discounts or rate differences.
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Following the enquiry, the commission held that the company had indulged in restrictive trade practice and it had a deleterious effect on competition inasmuch as small buyers of the product would not be able to compete effectively with the bigger buyers.
The commission passed the