The Competition Commission of India has closed the matter involving Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Green Energy Ltd, Azure Power India, and the Solar Energy Corp. of India, finding no prima facie case of anti-competitive conduct in the award of capacity under a manufacturing-linked solar tender floated by SECI in 2019.
Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the Adani Group
AGEL
The Competition Commission of India has closed the matter involving Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Green Energy Ltd, Azure Power India, and the Solar Energy Corp. of India, finding no prima facie case of anti-competitive conduct in the award of capacity under a manufacturing-linked solar tender floated by SECI in 2019.
The complaint, filed by Delhi-based Ravi Sharma, alleged that the SECI tender for multi-gigawatt solar generation capacity linked with setting up of domestic PV manufacturing capacity, was designed to ensure participation of only big players such as Adani Green Energy and Azure Power. It also claimed that the tender violated Ministry of Power (MoP) guidelines by combining solar power generation with manufacturing; and by including the green shoe option. Further, the complainant alleged that the winning developers’ (Adani Green Energy Ltd and Azure Power) unilateral reduction of the quoted bid price from INR 2.92/kWh to INR 2.54/kWh indicated that the bidding process was designed to oust other bidders and to curtail competition in the market.
The Commission, however, held that stipulating capacity generation and financial eligibility criteria is a standard practice in tenders, and cannot be considered anti-competitive merely because the market may be having a large number of smaller players as well. It noted that the tender is designed according to specific requirements of the procurer.
Regarding the clubbing of solar power plants with solar manufacturing, the Commission noted SECI’s reply that “the said tender was floated three times, after having been annulled twice in 2019. This establishes the intent and objective of the Government to promote domestic manufacturing and reduce export dependency. Unlike the Production linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme offered at present, in the Manufacturing linked Solar Scheme launched during 2018 and 2019, the only incentive offered to the prospective bidders/ developers was by the means of offering solar power plant capacity only corresponding to solar manufacturing plant capacity.”
The Commission also observed that capacity allocation was carried out through a transparent tariff-based competitive bidding process followed by e-reverse auction. It said the downward revision in tariffs by successful bidders was not contrary to any law and, in fact, benefited end consumers through lower prices.
Regarding the allegation of abuse of dominant position by the Adani Group, the Commission held that “as the power generation market in India is comprised of many significant players like NTPC, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd., Tata Power Co. Ltd., Torrent Power and Reliance Power, the Adani Group, prima facie, does not seem to be a dominant player in the power generation market in India. Even in the ‘power generation from renewable sources’ market, other prominent players like Tata Power, JSW Energy and Suzlon Energy are also operating.”
On allegations of bribes to government officials to facilitate power sale agreements between SECI and buying utilities, thereby enabling Adani Green Energy to secure power purchase agreements, the Commission said such conduct does not qualify as abusive (either exclusionary or exploitative) within the meaning of Section 4 (relating to abuse of dominance) of the Competition Act, 2002.
Based on these and other findings, the Commission said there is no prima facie case of contravention of provisions of Sections 3 (relating to anti-competitive agreements) and 4 of the Act warranting an investigation.
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