Addressing pending antitrust, expediting regulations for Competition Act amendments key priorities: CCI Chairperson

Over three months since taking charge, Ravneet Kaur, Chairperson of the Competition Commission of India, has set out a clear agenda. Addressing pending cases related to antitrust and anti-profiteering and expediting new regulations to operationalise the amendments undertaken in the Competition Act recently are her top priorities, she said in an interview to Business Today.

A 1988 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service from the Punjab cadre, Kaur took charge as the CCI’s Chairperson on May 23.

After being without a full-time chief for nearly seven months, when the former chairperson Ashok Kumar Gupta demitted office in October 2022, the CCI had a huge backlog of cases due to a lack of quorum. The anti-trust regulator had been given the go ahead by the government to clear mergers and acquisitions through a special dispensation. As a result, approvals have picked up steam in the last few months.

Kaur said timely enforcement, including investigation and adjudication, and taking effective steps for advocacy is a priority area. “Priorities may evolve over time based on the changing economic and regulatory landscape as well as specific challenges faced by the CCI,” she said, adding that organising the 8th BRICS International Competition Conference in October 2023 is also a priority.

“Collaboration with international competition authorities and organisations to promote competition principles, share best practices, foster cooperation in cross-border competition cases and showcase the work of CCI will be encouraged,” she further said.

She said the CCI is also working on formulating the necessary regulations to complete the implementation process of the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023. “Several provisions of the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023, have been enforced through notifications during May and July,” she said, adding that certain provisions are yet to be implemented, pending the establishment of rules, regulations and procedures after stakeholder consultations.

The amendments, which were enacted in April, aim at a comprehensive overhaul of the competition laws. Several provisions of the Act, such as the higher penalty of Rs 5 crore for false statements and provisions relating to hub and scope cartel, were notified in May.

However, other provisions including those relating to deal value threshold and a green channel for automatic approval are still pending.