Page 17 - Cci

Role clarity for CCI from Supreme Court

Licensing regulators may have primacy on specific areas occupied by regulation

CCI seeks public comments on proposed Schneider Electric-L&T deal

Fair trade regulator CCI has sought public views on Schneider Electric's proposed acquisition of certain businesses of Larsen & Toubro after prima-facie finding that the deal could adversely impact competition. In a public notice Tuesday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said stakeholders have to submit their comments within 15 working days along with supporting documents on how the merger can adversely impact any person or entity. Under the Competition Act, the watchdog can seek public comments on mergers and acquisitions wherein it has a prima-facie opinion that such a deal could adversely impact competition in the relevant market. Unsubstantiated objections are not likely to be considered, the notice said. In May this year, Larsen & Toubro had inked a definitive pact with Schneider Electric to sell its electrical and automation business for an all-cash consideration of Rs 14,000 crore, as part of its long-term strategy to exit non-core activities. The CCI has ...

Not a policy maker

Don't strain the competition regulator, bolster it

CCI to get a voice in policy formulation, use AI to analyse data

Competition commission to become a think tank for state governments

What constitutes a market? Back to basics for CCI as its orders go awry

This year, the CCI has passed a string of orders ranging from suspected cartels formed by aviation companies to corner fuel to anti-competitive behaviour by a chess federation

CCI amends rules on withdrawal, refiling of notices for clearance

To provide faster disposal of merger and acquisition cases, the Competition Commission Wednesday amended the combination regulations with regard to withdrawal and refiling of notices seeking approvals. The combination rule pertains to mergers and acquisitions. In July this year, the fair trade regulator had invited comments for the amendments in the Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) "amends the Combination Regulations vide notification dated October, 9 2018 to provide certainty & transparency and to expedite faster disposal of combination cases", the watchdog tweeted. According to the notification, the CCI may on the request of parties would allow withdrawal and refiling of a combination notice. Besides, in case the notice is withdrawn, the fee already paid would be deducted from the amount payable in respect of the new notice given by the parties to .

CCI may soon lose adjudicating powers, authority to pass orders & penalise

The government plans to let the commission have part-time members in order to ease its workload

CCI rules out cartelisation among banks in fixing savings interest rates

The fair trade watchdog examined the parallel behaviour of banks in offering similar savings bank interest rates and levying similar service charges on a suo motu basis

'Rightsizing' Competition Commission of India: Costs may outweigh benefits

The impact though will be on the contentious issue of breaking potential monopoly or abuse of market dominance

CCI to have 1 chairperson, 3 members after Cabinet approves rightsizing

This would lead to "faster turnaround in hearings" that is expected to result in speedier approvals

CCI issues 100 notices to auto parts firms to investigate global cartels

In India as well, the companies have filed leniency applications with the competition watchdog

SC rejects CCI order against GSK, Sanofi

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Competition Appellate Tribunal's (Compat's) order quashing a penalty of Rs 64 crore imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on multinational drug makers GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur for alleged bid rigging to supply vaccines for Haj pilgrims. The two companies were accused of colluding in bids for the Quadrivalent Meningococcal Meningitis Vaccine in tenders floated by the Union health ministry. GSK and Sanofi Pasteur had first appealed to Compat. A lawyer on the case told Business Standard that the apex court decided the facts and figures did not make for a judgement against the pharma majors. A lawyer for CCI argued it had evidence that the companies had engaged in tender rigging, that the quantity of bids by GSK and Sanofi together was equivalent to the tender quantity. CCI did not satisfy the standard of proof required of it, the court observed.Earlier, Compat had also quashed the CCI's order, deciding there was no ...

Supreme Court cuts Competition Commission's penal powers

The Supreme Court has upheld an order by the Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) that penalties imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on companies should be only on the turnover relevant to a case in dispute, not their overall turnover. The apex court's decision came on Monday on an appeal by CCI against Compat reducing the penalty it had imposed on Excel Crop, United Phosphorus and Sandhya Organic Chemicals, for an anti-competitive agreement between them that raised the cost of procurement of Aluminium Phosphide tablets by Food Corporation of India. CCI had imposed a penalty of nine per cent of the average three-years' turnover of each of these companies. This amounted to Rs 63.9 crore on Excel, Rs 252.44 crore on United Phosphorus and Rs 1.57 crore on Sandhya Organic. While Compat upheld the charge against the companies, it decided the competition regulator had wrongly calculated the penalties on the basis of overall turnover. Excel and United Phosphorus had ...

CCI clears acquisition of Johnson & Johnson's two brands by ITC

The Competition Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Johnson & Johnson's two brands, 'Savlon' and 'Shower to Shower', by FMCG major ITC. Savlon is an antiseptic brand while Shower To Shower is a personal care product brand. In a tweet today, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that it has approved "acquisition of Savlon and Shower to Shower brands by ITC". According to the notice submitted to CCI, ITC would acquire Savlon with "certain attendant inventories, know-how, molds and promotional materials" from Johnson & Johnson Private Ltd. The FMCG major would also acquire the Shower to Shower brand along with "certain know-how and promotional materials" from Johnson & Johnson PTE. ITC is a multi-business enterprise having presence in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), hotels, agri-business, among others. Johnson & Johnson Private Ltd and Johnson & Johnson PTE are part of US-based Johnson & Johnson Inc, which .

CCI imposes penalties on cement companies for bid-rigging, cartelization

This has been established from quoting of unusually higher rates in the impugned tender of cement

Four cases registered with CCI against telcos

One case has been registered by Reliance Jio against other operators and two cases have been registered against Jio

CCI slaps Rs 12,918 cr fine in 327 cases

Out of the penalty imposed, a total of Rs 10,454.08 crore have been stayed by the CAT and various courts

CCI gives nod to Fortis, Sun Pharma deals

The body also said it had approved the proposed restructuring of Fortis Group

MCA constitutes expert panel to look into audit firms' problems

Under the chairmanship of former Competition Commission of India (CCI) Chairman Ashok Chawla, the ministry of corporate affairs has constituted an expert panel to examine various issues related to audit firms, including possible adverse impact from restrictive shareholder agreements.The panel would examine whether joint audit could be introduced in cases where there are restrictive covenants and other specified cases where there is a multinational audit firm as the auditor. This expert committee has been asked to submit its report within two months, according to the order issued on the 30 September.

Competition Commission clears CDC Group's stake buy in IIFL

As part of efforts to expand its non-banking finance business, IIFL Group, in July, roped in CDC Group