The Competition Commission has dismissed a complaint alleging unfair and discriminatory trade practices by Indiabulls Housing Finance and several of its employees pertaining to loan agreement.
While dismissing the complaint, the fair trade regulator said it found no contravention of the Competition Act by Indiabulls Housing and its employees.
The ruling came on a complaint filed by advocate Kanhaiya Singhal who had availed a loan facility of Rs 1 crore for which he entered into a loan agreement with Indiabulls Housing during June 2018.
The complainant alleged that the rate of interest was increased from 8.75 per cent to 11.15 per cent within four months and the period of loan was increased to 364 months from 240 months without taking any consent from him.
Moreover, the complainant alleged that the terms and conditions of the loan agreement are one-sided and discriminatory in nature. He further alleged that despite the central bank reducing the market interest rate, the company was not passing on those benefits to him.
By doing so, the firm contravened Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, he alleged.
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Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act pertain to anti-competitive agreement and abuse of dominant market position, respectively.
For the case, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) considered the 'market for provision of home loans in India' as relevant market to asses the dominance in the delineated market.
The regulator said large number of players operating in the relevant market suggests that not only the market is competitive in nature but also the firm does not seem to have the ability to operate independently of the competitive forces, thus it is not found to be in dominant position.
"In the absence of dominance, the issue of abuse of dominant position against Indiabulls Housing Finance does not survive," CCI said in an order dated May 24.
Regarding anti-competitive agreement, CCI said "the commission after examining the facts of the case has not found anything that would suggest that there exists any kind of horizontal/vertical agreement that could be brought under the purview of Section 3 of the Act".
As a result, no case of contravention of Section 3 of the Act is made out against the firm.
Further, the complainant has not provided any evidence to show that several employees of Indiabulls Housing have indulged in any conduct which is in violation of the provisions of Sections 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, the fair trade regulator noted.
Accordingly, CCI ordered the matter to be "closed".