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The Competition Commission of India dismisses the information filed by P. R. Ganesan against Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited and Central Bank of India because the filing is delayed and lacks competition concerns. The Commission refuses to condone a delay of nearly ten years from the date when the cause of action initially arose. The Commission also notes that the general insurance market contains multiple major competitors, so the first opposite party does not hold a dominant position. The Commission closes the matter forthwith and directs the Secretary to inform the informant.
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COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Case No. 04 of 2025
In Re:
| P. R. Ganesan | Informant |
|---|---|
| No-195, $1^\text{st}$ Floor, $2^\text{nd}$ Street, | |
| Imayam Colony, Anna Nagar West, | |
| Chennai-600101 |
And
| Cholamandalam MS General Insurance | Opposite Party No. 1 |
|---|---|
| Company Limited | |
| Represented by its Manager | |
| $2^\text{nd}$ Floor, Dare House, | |
| No.2, NSC Bose Road, | |
| Chennai – 600001 |
| Central Bank of India | Opposite Party No. 2 |
|---|---|
| Represented by its Manager | |
| No.260, Muthu Kumarsamy, | |
| Naicker Road, Alandur, | |
| Chennai 600016. |
CORAM
Ms. Ravneet Kaur Chairperson
Mr. Anil Agrawal Member
Ms. Sweta Kakkad Member
Mr. Deepak Anurag Member
| Case No. 04 of 2025 | Page 1 of 6 |
|---|
Page 2 of 6 Case No. 04 of 2025
The present information has been filed by P. R. Ganesan (‘Informant’) under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (‘Act’), against M/S Chola- MS General Insurance (‘Opposite Party -1’/ ‘OP-1’) and M/S Central Bank of India (‘Opposite Party -2’/ ‘OP-2’) inter alia alleging contravention of the provisions of Sections 3(4) and 4 of the Act.
The Informant stated in the information that he had started a micro-unit and operating micro small medium enterprise (MSME) unit of precision engineering. The Informant's micro-unit ('Enterprise') was in the business of contract manufacturing of engineering goods/ materials and executing contract work. For doing the said contract work, the Enterprise usually takes advance payment from the contractors to purchase raw materials and then uses the raw materials to finish the job work.
It is submitted in the information that the Informant had also availed credit facilities from OP-2 in the form of term loan for the purchase of machineries and as over draft facility for the working capital to run the Enterprise for day-to-day operations. Further, OP-2 had insured the said loan account by the OP-1.
It is stated in the information that the parent company of OP-1 is Murugappa Group. Murugappa Group, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group and Ti Financial Holdings Limited formed a joint venture to create Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited. It has its headquarters in Chennai. The Informant submitted that OP-1 is one of the biggest conglomerates operating in India, especially south India and has presence in all verticals of the financial market. It is further stated by the Informant that OP-1 is one of the leading players in the market of general insurance in India.
The Informant stated in the information that on 02.12.2015, Ambattur Industrial estate was flooded, wherein the Informant's Enterprise was situated and the entire area including the Informant's Enterprise was submerged under flood water continuously for 15 days. The Informant’s Enterprise was totally submerged in hip-level flood water and all his machines, goods, files and materials were also submerged and destroyed. Even the Informant was unable to access his Enterprise for 15 days due to the stagnation of flood water up to seven feet. All the documents, files, contract raw materials, goods, and engineering machines were either damaged or destroyed totally in the flood water.
It is further stated in the information that due to the flood, the Informant lost all the files related to the insurance policy details since the water level was seven feet in the locality and
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Page 3 of 6 Case No. 04 of 2025
in the Informant's factory premises. Thereafter, the Informant approached OP-1 and OP-2 for a copy of the insurance policy documents. However, both the OPs did not provide a copy of the insurance document immediately to the Informant and provided the copy after taking a longtime. Therefore, the Informant could not file his insurance claim to OP-1 on prescribed time. Thereafter, the Informant filed his policy claim only after the prescribed date with delay of 62 days due to the delay caused by OP-2 and OP-1 in providing a copy of the insurance details.
The Informant also alleged that his application was handled by OP-1 in an unfair and anti-competitive manner. OP-1 rejected the insurance claim of the Informant stating that the Informant had filed his insurance claim after the due date or prescribed date and thereby OP-1 has not compensated the Informant for his whole loss or damages caused by the flood which squarely amounts to abusing its market power. OP-1 is hand-in glove with OP-2 to cheat the genuine claim of the Informant.
With regard to relevant market, it is submitted by the Informant that based on the above, the relevant product market in this case would be the 'market for providing general insurance service'. With respect to geographic market, the Informant submitted that since he had his business in the city of Chennai, he would not avail the service of big companies outside the jurisdiction of Chennai. Murugappa Group is having a long history associated with the city of Chennai and business/industry persons having a long faith on the Murugappa Group Company Chola MS. Moreover, OP-1 is considered as the local company compared to other insurance companies operating in the market. Thus, the relevant geographic market would be 'Chennai'. Therefore, the relevant market in this case would be ‘market for providing general insurance service in Chennai'.
It is further submitted by the Informant that OP-1 is a dominant player in the above-mentioned relevant market due to the reputational value generated by the Murugappa group name in the business circle operating in the city of Chennai and there was no other insurer preferred by OP-2.
It is submitted that the Informant has also filed a petition before the Government of Tamil Nadu for relief under the National Disaster Fund to minimize his burden of repayment of his balance loan to the Central Bank of India. The said default loan amount has been pursued by the lead banker, Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai.
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Page 4 of 6 Case No. 04 of 2025
It is further submitted by the Informant that he has faced multiple instances of personal harassment by the third-party companies, who had provided raw materials and goods which were destroyed during the flood. In order to get some relief from the personal harassment, the Informant had pledged his residential house and had given part payment to the third-party companies. Now, the Informant's residential property is in Debts Recovery Tribunal at Shastri Bhavan, Chennai for auction to recover the loan amount.
It is stated in the information that the Informant has also filed a case before the consumer forum against the OP-1 and OP-2 and claimed the compensation against the total value of insurance Rs.4,38,00,000/- (Four Crore Thirty-Eight Lakh only), through two policy documents. Under policy No.2150/00008981/000/00 for Rs.3,64,26,000/- (Three Crore Sixty-Four Lakh Twenty-Six Thousand only) and under policy No. 2150/00009229/000/00 for Rs.73,74,000/- (Seventy-Three Lakh Seventy-Four Thousand only), which is being pursued by the Informant. Further, the Informant did not accept the offer from OP-1 of Rs 8 Lakh against the total value of insurance claimed by the Informant as above.
Based on the above, the Informant has filed the instant information against OP-1 and OP-2 alleging violation of Section 3(4) and Section 4 of the Act.
The Informant has sought the following relief from the Commission:
