CCI finds debenture trustees' association fixed minimum fees; orders cease and desist, no penalty

The Competition Commission of India, by an order dated 2 September 2026 under Section 27 of the Competition Act, 2002, directed the Trustees' Association of India and three debenture trustees, IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited, Axis Trustee Services Limited and SBI CAP Trustee Company Limited, to cease and desist from anti-competitive conduct. Relying on the minutes of the association's meetings and email exchanges, the Commission found that the parties had fixed a benchmark price for debenture trusteeship services during 2020-21 and 2021-22. Collectively fixing a minimum fee through the association prevented each trustee from taking independent commercial decisions and amounted to cartelisation, violating Section 3(3)(a) read with Section 3(1) of the Act. The CCI also found that members, and even non-members, were told not to serve debenture issuers below the benchmark fee, which limited and controlled the supply of these services in breach of Section 3(3)(b).

Certain officials of the association and the three companies were held personally liable under Section 48 of the Act. Taking mitigating factors into account, the Commission imposed no monetary penalty on the entities or the individuals. The order was passed in Case No. 29 of 2021, and a copy is available on the CCI's website.