Parliament passes antitrust legislation on overseas mergers & acquisitions

By Sankalp Phartiyal
 

India’s parliament approved a revised legislation which gives the South Asian nation’s antitrust watchdog wider powers to review overseas mergers and acquisitions.
 

The legislation was approved by the upper house of parliament on Monday. The lower house had ratified it last week. The bill will need a sign off from the president, which in most cases comes through, before it becomes law.

The changes in the competition law include a requirement for companies with “substantial business operations” in India to seek antitrust permissions for all deals where the transaction value exceeds 20 billion rupees ($243 million). Until now, the Competition Commission of India examined deals based on companies’ asset size and and turnover.