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Informist, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Competition Commission of India has found that Trustees' Association of India, IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd., Axis Trustee Services Ltd. and SBI CAP Trustee Co. Ltd. violated the Competition Act, 2002, by fixing the benchmark price of providing debenture trusteeship services during the period between financial year 2020-21 (Apr-Mar) and FY22. The competition regulator directed Trustees' Association of India to cease and desist in future from indulging in any practice or conduct in contravention of the provisions of Section 3 of the 2002 Act. 

 

In consideration of the mitigating factors, such as Trustees' Association of India not having any income in the period of contravention and IDBI Trusteeship, Axis Trustee and SBI CAP having charged debenture trustee services fees below the benchmark pricing in many cases, no penalty is being imposed on them, said the regulator. However, it is to be noted that any continuation or recurrence of such conduct by the respondents would be construed as recidivism with attendant aggravated consequences not only for the association and companies but their individuals in their personal capacity, it said.

 

The case has its genesis from Muthoot Finance Ltd., the complainant, proposing to issue secured non-convertible debentures worth INR 9.82 billion through private placement and seeking a fee quotation from IDBI Trusteeship for acting as its debenture trustee. Muthoot Finance said that IDBI Trusteeship quoted a fee structure several folds higher than that charged under its previous pricing structure for providing debenture trusteeship services. 

 

Muthoot Finance alleged that IDBI Trusteeship attributed the revised pricing structure to a decision taken and enforced by Trustees' Association of India, which comprises several debenture trustees as its members. Muthoot Finance said the revised fee structure saw a manifold increase in the minimum fee in less than a year, while the roles and responsibilities of the debenture trustees remained unchanged. 

 

The fee was increased unilaterally without any prior consultation with Muthoot Finance in advance, said the complainant. As a result, Muthoot Finance was unable to make any alternative arrangements, which resulted in the company not being able to file the offer document to raise working capital resources on time, it said. Trustees' Association of India and its members Axis Trustee and SBI CAP have entered into an anti-competitive agreement, presumed to have appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, by mutually agreeing to increase the fee structure for undertaking trusteeship services and preventing its members from charging a fee below the exorbitantly high pricing structure fixed by Trustees' Association of India, said Muthoot Finance.

 

Thursday, the shares of Muthoot Finance Ltd. closed 0.4% lower at INR 2,962.50 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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