On June 1, 2018, CCI disposed off information filed by Mr. Jaideep Ugrankar against Client Associates, alleging that the company had imposed unfair conditions in his employment contract in violation of the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act.It was alleged that the employment contract in question included post employment obligations ranging from confidentiality agreements to a series of non-compete clauses. The informant also alleged irregularities in the payment of his salary by the company.CCI observed that the informant had not made out a case for anti-competitive collusion under Section 3, and decided to assess the information under the provisions of Section 4 alone. CCI noted that the company in question is a private wealth management firm and it manages the financial affairs of its clients. To carry out its operations, the company procures services of professionals to work in wealth management firm, such as the informant in this case. Thus the relevant product market was defined to be the ‘market for procurement of services offered by professionals to the private wealth management firms’.In this relevant market, CCI held that the presence of Client Associates was marginal, ands thus no case for abuse of dominance under Section 4 of the Competition Act was made out. Accordingly, CCI disposed off the information under Section 26(2) of the Competition Act.

*Case No.8 of 2018.