President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2023, marking the most comprehensive changes to the competition law by the Centre till date The Presidential assent was given on Tuesday, sources said.

Now all eyes are on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) which will “appoint” a date on which the amended law will come into force. Notably, the law provides that different dates maybe appointed for different provisions of the Act.

It maybe recalled that Rajya Sabha passed the Bill on April 03, 2023 through a voice vote.

The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 29, 2023 after Finance Minister Sitharaman moved nearly 13 amendments in the lower house

Major provisions

Introduction of “global turnover” as a benchmark for levy of penalties arising from any abuse of dominant position by enterprises is one of the salient features of the amended law. Other noteworthy features are introduction of a Settlement and Commitment Framework to ensure faster market correction; introduction of concept of Deal Value Threshold for notifying mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to address killer acquisitions in digital market and introduction of “leniency plus” regime. 

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The leniency plus regime is a new cartel detecting tool that would encourage companies already under investigation for one cartel to report other cartels unknown to the competition regulator.

Role of CCI

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is expected to frame regulations related to these new features.

Besides reducing the timelines for M&A clearances (from 210 days to 150 days), the revised law provides for appointment of Director General (Investigation) by the CCI. So far, the Centre has been appointing the DG (Investigation).

Another significant change relates to 25 percent deposit of penalty for appeals. The new law also provides for inclusion of facilitators of certain anti-competitive agreements within the framework of law (hub—and—spoke).

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