UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — CCI imposes penalty on HP India and its certain resellers for indulging in anti-competitive practices in supply of personal system products

Q1. The Competition Commission of India, which passed the 2026 cartelisation order against HP India and its resellers, functions under the administrative control of which one of the following Union Ministries?

  • A. Ministry of Commerce and Industry
  • B. Ministry of Corporate Affairs
  • C. Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
  • D. Ministry of Finance

Q2. The high-level committee on competition policy and law, on whose recommendations the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 was repealed and the Competition Act, 2002 was enacted, was chaired by which one of the following?

  • A. S. V. S. Raghavan
  • B. Injeti Srinivas
  • C. Vijay Kelkar
  • D. Bimal Jalan

Q3. Under Section 3(3) of the Competition Act, 2002, how many categories of agreements between enterprises engaged in identical or similar trade of goods or provision of services are presumed to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition?

  • A. Two
  • B. Three
  • C. Four
  • D. Six

Q4. Which of the following practices are correctly identified as falling within the category of horizontal agreements that Section 3(3) of the Competition Act, 2002 presumes to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition?

  1. Directly or indirectly determining purchase or sale prices.
  2. Limiting or controlling production, supply, markets, technical development or investment.
  3. Directly or indirectly resulting in bid rigging or collusive bidding, of which 'cover bidding' by rival bidders is an instance.
  4. Imposing a tie-in arrangement requiring a purchaser to buy a second, distinct product as a condition of buying the first.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 2, 3 and 4
  • D. 1 and 4

Q5. Which one of the following changes brought in by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 is the principal statutory basis on which 'hub-and-spoke' cartel liability can be fastened on an enterprise such as a manufacturer coordinating collusion among its own dealers?

  • A. Enterprises or persons not engaged in identical or similar trade shall be presumed to be part of an anti-competitive agreement if they actively participate in its furtherance
  • B. The maximum period for the Commission to pass an order on a combination has been reduced from 210 days to 150 days
  • C. Transactions whose value exceeds Rs 2,000 crore must be notified to the Commission for approval
  • D. An appellant must deposit 25 per cent of the amount payable under a CCI order before the appeal is heard

Q6. Under the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023, a combination must be notified to the Competition Commission of India if the value of the transaction exceeds which one of the following 'deal value' thresholds?

  • A. Rs 1,000 crore
  • B. Rs 2,000 crore
  • C. Rs 2,500 crore
  • D. Rs 5,000 crore

Q7. Consider the following four statements about the powers exercised by the Competition Commission of India after it concludes an inquiry into a cartel. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

  1. Section 27 empowers the Commission to direct the parties to discontinue and not re-enter the anti-competitive agreement, and to impose such penalty as it deems fit.
  2. Section 48 makes every person who, at the time of the contravention, was in charge of and responsible to the company for the conduct of its business liable to be proceeded against and punished.
  3. Section 46 empowers the Commission to impose a lesser penalty on a cartel member who makes a full, true and vital disclosure in respect of the alleged cartel.
  4. Section 46 also empowers the Commission to award compensation to persons who have suffered loss or damage on account of the cartel.
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 4
  • D. 4 only

Q8. In its order dated 13 July 2026 in Suo Motu Case No. 08 of 2020, the Competition Commission of India imposed a penalty of about Rs 11.98 crore on HP India and about Rs 2.30 crore in the aggregate on sixteen of its resellers. Under which one of the following provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 was this penalty and the accompanying cease-and-desist direction issued?

  • A. Section 4
  • B. Section 27
  • C. Section 31
  • D. Section 43A

Q9. The 'Lesser Penalty Plus' (LPP) mechanism, which allows an existing leniency applicant in one cartel to obtain an additional penalty reduction by disclosing a second, hitherto unknown cartel, was operationalised in India through which one of the following instruments?

  • A. CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009
  • B. CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2024
  • C. CCI (Settlement) Regulations, 2024
  • D. CCI (Commitment) Regulations, 2024

Q10. An enterprise aggrieved by a penalty order of the Competition Commission of India must, in the first instance, prefer its appeal to which one of the following forums?

  • A. The High Court exercising territorial jurisdiction over the enterprise
  • B. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
  • C. The Competition Appellate Tribunal
  • D. The Supreme Court of India