The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has published the draft Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2023 (LPR 2023) seeking stakeholder comments by 6 November 2023. Once notified, the LPR 2023 will amend the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009 (LPR 2009). The LPR 2009 regulates the leniency programme which is available to those enterprises / individuals who disclose their role in a cartel to the CCI and cooperate with subsequent investigations in return of a reduction in penalty. The LPR 2023 will operationalise the lesser penalty plu ..read more

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has published the draft CCI (Combinations) Regulations, 2023 (Draft M&A Regulations) on 5 September 2023 and has invited stakeholder comments, to be submitted by 25 September 2023. The Draft M&A Regulations would replace the current CCI (Procedure in regard to the transactions of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 (Combinations Regulations, 2011). The key changes introduced in the Draft M&A Regulations explain the applicability of the deal value threshold (DVT), which was introduced by the recently introduced Competition ..read more

Introduction 2022 was an eventful year for competition law in India. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) operated optimally approving combinations notified before it in reasonable timelines, conducting significant dawn raids, passing notable orders that made international headlines, and conducting market studies. The anticipated amendments to the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) were discussed ad nauseum in conference rooms and across coffee tables. Notable also is that the CCI has not had quorum for the formal conduct of business since Chairperson, Mr. Ashok Gupta demitted office on 24 Octob ..read more

On 19 October 2022, the Competition Commission of India (the CCI) imposed heavy penalties[1] on MakeMyTrip India Private Limited (MMT) and Ibibo Group Private Limited (collectively, MMT-Go) and directed MMT-Go to, inter alia, modify its agreements with hotels to remove parity and exclusivity related obligations. Legitimacy of price parity clauses (also referred to as ‘best-price’ or ‘most favoured nation’ or MFN clauses) has been one of the highly debated ‘modern’ antitrust issues across many jurisdictions. Whilst the MMT-Go case relates to contractual arrangements between online travel agent ..read more

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) has extended the suspension of the 30-day deadline for merger filings India’s competition regime is mandatory and suspensory. A transaction cannot be completed (in whole or in part) unless the Indian competition regulator grants its approval. The Competition Act, 2002 (the “Act”) requires that a transaction be notified to the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) within 30 days of the trigger event (such as the execution of binding agreements). But this requirement was suspended for five years through a circular dated June 29, 2017[1]. The suspensio ..read more

In an order published on August 23, 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) penalised Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) to the tune of INR 2 billion (approx. USD 27 million) for restricting and controlling the discounts offered by its dealers to the end consumers. Such conduct by India’s leading passenger vehicle manufacturer was held to be anti-competitive resale price maintenance (RPM), and thus violative of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 (as amended) (Competition Act). The investigation in this case commenced when the antitrust regulator received an anonymous complaint ..read more

In the first part of this series (read here), we analysed the prospects and challenges of a potential free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK, as a precursor to which, the governments of India and the UK agreed on an Enhanced Trade Partnership last month. Around the same time, the EU also agreed to restart negotiations on a potential FTA with India. In this second part, let’s discuss the prospects and challenges of a potential FTA between India and the EU. An FTA with the EU, one of the largest trading blocs and the second largest economy in the world, can not only provide India w ..read more

Last month, the UK and the EU separately announced their intention to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with India. This is a significant development, not only from an international trade perspective, but also from geo-politics perspective. For India, FTAs with the UK and the EU have the potential of integrating it with the dominant global value chain of trade, and for the UK and the EU, FTAs with India would not only provide them an enhanced access to one of the largest and fastest growing markets as well as manufacturing hubs in the world, ensuring supply chain resilience, but would al ..read more

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) adapted nimbly to the challenges of 2020 and focused on digital payment platforms and cartel investigations; a few merger cases threw up interesting results as well. The much-anticipated guidance notes for the amended Form I notice were also a key highlight in 2020. The COVID -19 Pandemic and the CCI’s response  The CCI moved quickly towards allowing electronic filings, and conducting hearings and other meetings through video conference, after consultations with the Bar Counsel of India. On April 19, 2021, the CCI issued an advisory to businesses ..read more

In an interim order dated 9 March 2021[1], the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has asked MakeMyTrip India Private Limited (“MMT”) and Ibibo Group Private Limited (“Ibibo”) to relist the hotels of Casa2Stays Private Limited (“FabHotels”) and Rubtub Solutions Private Limited (“Treebo”) on their platforms. The CCI granted interim relief while adjudicating the applications filed by Treebo and FabHotels. The Competition Act, 2002 (as amended) (“Act”) gives power to the CCI to grant temporary injunction restraining any party from carrying on acts which are in contravention of certain provis ..read more