The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accused Grasim Industries of abusing its position in the staple fiber market by charging discriminatory prices to customers, denying market access and imposing supplementary obligations on them. However, the regulator has not imposed any monetary penalty on the firm, considering that a fine of Rs 301.61 crore has already been imposed through an order passed in March 2020 with respect to substantially similar conduct.

Besides, the period of contravention in the instant case (2017-18) was in continuation of the period of contravention in the previous case (2012-2017) and thus partly overlapped. The Commission criticized Grasim Industries’ efforts to seek details of VSF consumed from the domestic spinners to provide discount as an attempt to control the entire market by putting conditions upon small players and interfering with their freedom of trade.

In the case of one of the informants, Grasim Industries withdrew all discounts/credit notes, making the supply of VSF costly for it, resulting in the VSF yarn manufactured by it becoming uncompetitive.