Article Summary
The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 introduced significant changes to India’s competition-law framework to address modern business structures and faster-moving markets. Key reforms include a deal-value threshold for certain mergers and acquisitions, shorter merger-review timelines, settlement and commitment mechanisms, and changes relating to penalties and anti-competitive agreements. The amendments strengthen the role of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) while seeking to make merger control and enforcement more responsive to digital and high-value transactions. Businesses involved in acquisitions, collaborations, or market-sensitive agreements must therefore consider the updated compliance requirements when planning transactions in India.
The Rajya Sabha recently passed the Competition Act amendment bill, in 2023. The Competition Act is being amended to be in line with modern-day requirements and as per global standards. The bill after getting the accent of the President will bring changes about the combinations, and anti-competitive agreements. The anti-competitive agreements will now cover the hub and spoke cartels, sellers, and the sale of goods and services, and will change the factors used by the Competition Commission for the determination of the adverse effect, if any, on the competition. Now, after the making of the law, penalties will be income-based or global turnover based, and any liability for the contraventions, will be on the company and the office bearers. A new settlement framework has also been introduced. This framework will allow the entities for proposing settlements, for the contraventions, if any.
The Competition Act, of 2002 regulates competition in India. It prohibits the abuse of the dominant position in a relevant market in India. It can be a relevant product market or the relevant geographic market or it can be both.
The Competition Commission can conduct inquiries regarding agreements and the dominant position and it can impose penalties accordingly. Abuse of a dominant position comprises the imposition of unfair or discriminatory conditions, predatory pricing, limiting the production or the supply, etc.
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