Supreme Court refuses to hear Asian Paints’ plea against competition commission probe

In a setback for Asian Paints Ltd, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the company’s plea against an antitrust investigation initiated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) following a complaint by Birla Opus, the decorative paints division of Grasim Industries. A bench led by Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi stated they were “not inclined to entertain” the petition but permitted Asian Paints to withdraw it at their request. The company had approached the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court rejected its petition in September 2025, upholding the CCI’s probe into alleged dominance abuse in the decorative paints market.

Asian Paints argued it faced repeated investigations whenever new competitors entered the market and claimed procedural flaws in the regulator’s actions. Senior counsels Mukul Rohatgi and Neeraj Kishan Kaul pointed out that Grasim’s complaint mirrored a 2022 complaint by JSW Paints, which was already investigated and dismissed. They argued the company should not be subjected to multiple probes on the same issue, highlighting the damage to reputation and the prolonged, exhausting nature of such investigations.