Competition Commission probes over 60 cases

More than 60 cases of alleged anti-competitive business practices were being probed by Competition Commission at the end of last financial year.
The Commission, which has the mandate to curb unfair business ways in the market place, has so far reviewed violations in diverse sectors including infrastructure, real estate, automobile and pharmaceuticals.
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been fully functional since May 2009.
Latest data from the anti-trust watchdog show that 61 cases were continuing before its Director General (DG) at the end of March 2014.
DG is the investigation arm of the Commission. Instances where prima facie there is evidence of competition norms violations are referred to the DG for detailed probe.

Out of the 461 cases handled by the Commission till March this year, nearly 50 per cent of them (translating to 228 cases) were closed at the initial stage itself.

Decisions have been taken in about 129 cases after receiving the DG reports, as per the Commission.
The fair trade regulator has so far imposed more than Rs 8,000 crore penalties on various entities for violating competition rules.
"In the area of merger-control, CCI has been pro-active in responding to the needs and aspirations of the Indian industry... We have institutionalised pre-merger consultation in both procedural and substantive issues, demonstrating our commitment to support Indian industry in its compliance with the evolving Indian merger-control jurisprudence," CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla said.

Writing in the regulator's latest quarterly newsletter, Chawla has said it is committed to developing a competition culture in the country.
"Over the past five years, we have worked with industry groups, trade associations, judiciary, consumer groups and other stakeholders to create awareness and change the mis-perception about competition law being another bureaucratic hurdle in carrying on Indian business," he noted.