Article by MM Sharma, Head Competition Law &
Policy Practice, Vaish Associates, Advocates, New Delhi,
India
Specific Questions relating to this article should be
addressed directly to the author.
Public procurement in India constitutes about 30% of the GDP,
with the total annual expenditure of around 15-20 Lakh Crores and
that for Union Government alone in the range of Rs. 2.5 – 3
Lakh Crores. This is the government activity most vulnerable to
corruption, not only between the suppliers and the government staff
but also within the suppliers themselves. The latter emerges in the
form of cartels i.e. bid rigging and collusive bidding. Though
integrity of the procuring staff and competition between suppliers
are two sides of the same coin, yet so far, the focus has largely
remained on tackling departmental corruption and, except for
blacklisting / holiday listing etc. against suppliers for a few
years, there is hardly any policy to report bid rigging by
suppliers or
