The Competition Commission of India, CCI, has imposed penalty of 671 crore rupees on four state-run insurance companies for cartelization and adopting anti competitive practices. These companies are National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance. In its order, the fair trade regulator also asked them to cease and desist from anti-competitive.<br/><br/>The present case relates to bid rigging in public procurement for social welfare schemes– Rashtriya Swashtya Bima Yojana and Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme of Kerala government. The beneficiaries of the schemes were BPL families. The investigation by the CCI concluded that the insurance companies colluded with each other and manipulated with tendering process initiated by the Kerala government.