The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 in order to promote competition and prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India. The CCI looks into cases and investigate it if the same has negative impact on competition, CCI also approves combination under the act so that two merging entities do not overtake the market.
The Competition Act 2002, prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and Merger and acquisition), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.
It is the duty of the commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India. The commission is also required to give an opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.
The objectives of the Commission are:
Competition laws perform three main functions in society.
With the advent of Web 3.0, AI, IoT, Blockchain and other technological developments, and emergence of issues like data protection and privacy, platform neutrality, deep discounting, killer acquisitions, etc., the need for a robust competition law, attuned to meet the needs of present-day techno-legal world, is important for India, which enables a true level playing field for the digital market players.
CCI should understand the technological nuances of the new digital era and whether these markets are being fairly, effectively, and transparently used for the benefit of consumers.
FAQs can become a permanent tool of advocacy which should be used to disseminate information on a ready-to-use basis. This would strengthen CCI’s position as a proactive and progressive regulator, and such guidance will help market players take preventive measures.
The CCI faces multiple challenges while implementing the Competition Laws. The challenges can be both internal and external.
The Mergers, amalgamations and acquisitions in India are regulated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). CCI is the statutory authority responsible for reviewing combinations and assessing whether or not they cause or are likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within the relevant market(s) in India. CCI approval is required for combinations where the parties involved exceed the assets/turnover thresholds set out of the Competition Act.
We have experience in Competition Commission of India Clearance in the way of complying with the legal procedures for our clients and in completion of following regulatory processes. We have worked with clients in CCI Clearance representing them and have got satisfactory results for our clients.