Two anti-trust panel members dissent on NSE indictment
06 Jun 2011
A dissent note to last week's ruling by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the National Stock Exchange (NSE) says the exchange did not violate any rules relating to competition.
The CCI had passed the order after MCX-SX complained that NSE was abusing its dominant position in the currency derivatives market; and its zero-pricing policy was hurting competition in the currency segment.
The anti-trust watchdog termed NSE's practice of waiving various fees for brokers in the currency derivatives market as ''annihilatory pricing''.
It also found NSE's denial of access codes to users of a software platform sold by Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) unfair and in contravention of India's competition laws. FTIL is the promoter of MCX-SX.
But two members, Geeta Gouri and Anurag Goel, have taken a different view. ''We have considered every aspect of the arguments, rebuttals and submissions of both parties ... we are of the opinion that no violation of provisions of section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002, has been established against National Stock Exchange,'' they concluded in the order.
Their note added that any intervention by the commission would only hurt the consumer, which is against the spirit of the competition regulation.