Case No. 52 of 2013. Case: M/s. Financial Software and System Private Limited Informant Vs M/s. ACI Worldwide Solutions Private Limited, India, M/s. ACI Worldwide Incorporated, USA and M/s. ACI Worldwide (Asia) Pte. Limited, Singapore. Competition Commision of India
| Case Number | Case No. 52 of 2013 |
| Judges | Ashok Chawla (Chairman), H.C. Gupta, Member (G), Dr. Geeta Gouri, Member (GG), Anurag Goel, Member (AG), M.L. Tayal, Member (T), Shiv Narayan Dhingra, Member (D) |
| Issue | Competition Act, 2002 - Sections 19(1)(a), 26(1), 3, 3(4), 4, 4(1), 4(2)(a)(i), 4(2)(b)(i), 4(2)(c), 4(2)(d), 4(2)(e) |
| Judgement Date | September 04, 2013 |
| Court | Competition Commision of India |
Order:
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The present information has been filed under section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 ('the Act') by M/s. Financial Software and System Private Limited ('the informant'/FSS) against M/s. ACI Worldwide Solutions Private Limited, India ('the opposite party No. 1'/ACI India), M/s. ACI Worldwide Incorporated, USA ('the opposite party No. 2'/ACI Worldwide) and M/s. ACI Worldwide (Asia) Pte. Limited, Singapore ('the opposite party No. 3'/ ACI Asia) alleging inter alia contravention of the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of the Act. The informant has described the opposite parties as affiliate/group entities and collectively referred to them as ACI hereinafter for felicity of ready reference. The informant is a private limited company incorporated in India under the Companies Act, 1956. It is stated to act as a system integrator to banks and other financial institutions. It caters to the specific needs of the banks through its two business divisions, FSS Technologies and FSS Net.
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ACI is stated to be engaged in the business of developing software (BASE24) for electronic payment solutions which enables card-based payment transactions for banks. BASE24 is a 'Transaction Processing Switch' software (EFT Switch), which enables an ATM or a Point of Sale (POS) terminal to communicate with the relevant bank's core banking network. As such, all banks and financial institutions, which desire to provide ATM, POS, mobile banking and internet banking services, require EFT Switch software. It is averred that at present about 77% of ATMs in India and about 80% of POS operate on BASE24.
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The informant has stated that the relationship between ACI and the ACI Banks (the banks using BASE24 software) is governed by a licence agreement which provides right to use including the right to customize the modules of BASE24 software.
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It is the case of the informant that BASE24 software (and other comparable software) requires modifications to enable banks to offer additional value added services through ATMs and POS devices; and to operate the 'distributed branch banking model' where customers are identified at a branch level and authorizations are sent to that branch host. FSS provides modification and customization services for software like BASE24 to ACI Banks. FSS and ACI are stated to have had a long standing relationship, starting from FSS acting as a re-seller for ACI for BASE24 in India in 1991, then FSS becoming a distributor and service provider for BASE24 in India in 1998 through various distribution agreements. During the currency of the distribution agreement, certain disputes arose between FSS and ACI sometime in 2007-2008. Subsequently, FSS and ACI entered into a Settlement and Release Agreement whereby,
• FSS and ACI agreed to settle all disputes,
• The distribution agreements between FSS and ACI stood terminated,
• On and from April 01, 2010, ACI and FSS both have the right to provide professional services, including implementation and customer modification services to all ACI Banks; and
• Till March 31, 2011, FSS shall serve as ACI's "preferred services partner" for ACI products (BASE24)
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Subsequently, avers the informant, pursuant to the terms of the Settlement and...
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