Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) providers and telemarketers have sought the Competition Commission of India (CCI) intervention to investigate the ‘restrictive conditions’ put forth by the public sector Bank of Baroda for offering bulk messaging services.
The CPaaS providers allege that the public sector bank’s request for proposal (RFP) violates public procurement norms, contradicting the General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017, and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines.
The bank intended to award a ₹3,097-crore order to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)-registered additional telecom operator for a period of five years.
In a letter to the national competition regulator dated May 5, 2026, the American messaging platform Gupshup said that the “eligibility criteria mandate participation exclusively by telecom operators, thereby excluding a large ecosystem of over 2,000 registered telemarketers and CPaaS companies.”
The messaging company, which predominantly operates in India, said that this would “significantly narrow the competitive landscape and raise concerns regarding transparency, equal opportunity, and competitive neutrality.”
Further, it sought the CCI to “recommend cancellation and reissuance of the tender with fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory” eligibility criteria, and inclusion of CF to ensure a level-playing field. I registered telemarketers.
Gurugram-based CPaaS solutions provider Dove Soft, in a letter to the CCI secretary, dated May 5, 2026, said that denying market access violates the provisions of the Competition Act. This action creates “entry barriers,” excluding equally capable market participants, which distorts competitive price discovery and adversely affects public procurement outcomes.
The stakeholders argue that limiting participation could reduce competitive pricing and potentially impact public expenditure efficiency.
“The stark price differential establishes that exclusion of CPaaS providers leads to “inflated pricing and insufficient utilisation of public funds,” it added.
India’s CPaaS sector operates through nearly 2,000 registered telemarketers, employing more than 100,000 individuals.
“We request urgent intervention in this matter to preserve competitive neutrality and ensure that public procurement adheres to the principles of transparency, fairness, and economic efficiency.”
In a statement to ET, Bank of Baroda (BoB) said that it “works with multiple existing service providers, including CPaaS providers, for bulk messaging services. The bank has now issued an RFP for onboarding additional telecom operator empaneled agencies.” iversify the bank’s.
“The initiative is aimed at strengthening service resilience, ensuring on-demand scalability, improving delivery performance, and supporting the Bank’s future growth requirements,” the BoB spokesperson added.
Query to CCI did not elicit any response.
In a bid to determine the final pricing of the most-competitive offer, the bank said that it would conduct a ‘reverse auction’ in accordance with the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
The bidder will be selected as L1 based on the total cost of ownership (TCO) quoted in the reverse auction.
The bank mandates in a bid document that as a part of the technical proposal, the service provider needs to provide complete details for setting up SMS aggregator with industry-accepted security standards and best practices, and added that the selection shall be on a non-exclusive basis.